celebration

Light at the Kotel

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman lit a menorah at the Western Wall in Jerusalem on Sunday night to commemorate the first night of Chanukah.

Recounting the miracles witnessed by the Maccabees 2,200 years ago, Netanyahu said that modern Israel faces enemies and decrees no less anti-Semitic than those of the ancient Greeks who “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,” he said.

He criticized an announcement this week by the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court that her organization intends to conduct a broad investigation of Israel for “war crimes.”

“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 [shines] here, and we will overcome you, just as we overcame other anti-Semites in history,” said Netanyahu.

“Pure anti-Semitism, that’s what the ICC has done, and we will not bow our heads,” he added.