German president lights Hanukkah candles with Berlin Jews in Brandenburg Gate

By Zev Stub

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14 December 2025, 10:09 pm

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Zev Stub is the Times of Israel's Diaspora Affairs correspondent.

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier, 2nd right, and his wife, Elke Buedenbender, light a fire during a vigil for the victims of the terror attack at Australia's Bondi Beach, Berlin, Germany, December 14, 2025. (AP/ Markus Schreiber)

Following today’s terror attack at a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier attends a public lighting at Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate for the first night of Hanukkah.

Steinmeier participated in the candle lighting at the landmark, a symbol of Nazi Germany, in solidarity with the Jewish community. He has attended in past years as well, including at the 80th anniversary of Kristallnacht in 2018.

Rabbi Yehuda Teichtal, who serves as the president of the Chabad Jewish Education Center in Berlin, says at the ceremony: “The only weapon we have against darkness is light, and the only response we have to hatred is more love.”