Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz attend separate candle-lighting events on the last evening of Hanukkah.
Gantz participates at a ceremony at the Western Wall along with the Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel Yitzhak Yosef — ignoring criticism from liberal organizations who urged him to boycott the event since it excludes women.
He reacts to the Monsey, New York, stabbing at a rabbi’s home, vowing to “strengthen communities abroad after the latest incident we went through tonight.” He also calls IDF soldiers guarding Israel’s borders “today’s Maccabees.”
Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz (C) at a Hanukkah candle-lighting event on December 29, 2019. (Elad Malka)
Netanyahu, meanwhile, speaks at a candle-lighting at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem with employees and their kids.
“If the Maccabees who fought for our existence 2,200 years ago could look into the future and see their descendants founded the country which is now ranked the eighth-strongest country in the world — then we are the Maccabees,” he says.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) attends a Hanukkah candle-lighting event at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem, December 29, 2019. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)
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Sunday, December 29, 2019
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