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Itzhak Rabihiya

Israel lit first candle of Chanukah. President Rivlin lit this evening, Sunday 22 December the first candle of Chanukah with the men and women of the David Sector of the Israel Police and Gimmel Company of the Border Police in the Old City of Jerusalem, together with Minister of Internal Security Gilad Erdan and acting the Police Commissioner, Deputy Commissioner Moti Cohen. Afterwards, the president was briefed by the commander of the sector, Commander Chaim Shmueli, accompanied by the commander of the Jerusalem District, Deputy Commissioner Doron Yadid.

“What a pleasure it is to celebrate the first night of Chanukah with you, and to bless ‘Shechechyanu’, the prayer for new things, our brave men and women,” said the president, adding, “You are our guards, and we look to you, who are responsible for ensuring the safety of the holiest place in the world. The security you provide here allows us to celebrate Chanukah, the festival of lights, with joy.”

Also Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman, this evening (Friday, 20 December 2019), at the Western Wall in Jerusalem, lit the first Chanukah candle. Netanyahu said: "2,200 years ago, the Maccabees fought the war of liberation for the Jewish people and the Jewish faith against the antisemitic Greeks. They wanted to extinguish our faith, to stamp on our freedom, to drive us out of this land, to say that we have no right to exist.

We have fought against immeasurable odds as no people has fought in history. We crossed the abyss from extinction to survival, independence and now a thriving democracy. And yet, we find ourselves now in the beginning of the 21st century, in the year 2019, where the International Criminal Court, that should know otherwise, has set forth decrees that are just as antisemitic as the decrees of the Greeks. They say the Jews do not have a right to settle in the Jewish homeland. They say the Jews do not have a right to live in the land of the Jews, in the Land of Israel. Well, we say, shame on you. The light of truth lights here and we will overcome you, just as we overcame other antisemites in history.

Attached photo credit: Mark Neiman (GPO)