Prime Minister Netanyahu lighting a second Hanukkah candle with IDF soldiers at the Western Wall: “I look into your eyes and I see the determination, courage and heroism of the Maccabees. You are miracle workers”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his wife Sara Netanyahu arrived at the Western Wall in Jerusalem last night (Monday) and lit a second Hanukkah candle together with IDF soldiers, the Rabbi of the Western Wall and the Commissioner of the Holy Places, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz and his wife, the Director General of the Western Wall Heritage Mordechai (Sully) Eliav, and US Ambassador Mike Huckabee and his wife Janet.
Prime Minister Netanyahu and his wife Sara buried a note among the stones of the Western Wall for the success of IDF soldiers and security forces. Mrs. Netanyahu wished for the return of the kidnapped soldier, Hero of Israel, Rani Gweily, the late.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:
“Dear friends, Sarah and I are very excited to be with you, heroic soldiers of Israel. I look into your eyes, I see the determination, and the courage, and the heroism of the Maccabees. You are the Maccabees of our time. I do not say this casually, not as an empty statement, but out of a deep belief that I know you share, that we are actually performing the same miracles that the Maccabees performed 2,200 years ago. They stood before a force that tried to wipe out the people of Israel, the Jews, and Judaism from the face of the earth.
This was the decree, and the decrees that came from Antiochus, who tried to wipe out the Jews, and what we were facing was essentially annihilation. And if those heroes had not risen up, he would have succeeded. And in this warfare, we first of all saved our people. But we also fought the war of the people of culture, the people of light against the people of darkness. And we are winning. You are winning. You truly perform miracles with supreme heroism.
You mentioned our great friend President Trump – President Trump asks me, ‘How do you do it? Israel is so small, and they are so many, a small country and their neighbors are so big. Where does this strength come from?’ It comes from the heritage of Israel, it comes from our faith, it comes from our understanding that we will not allow anyone to cut the thread of life of the people of Israel. This is a huge and mighty thing and it outweighs everything. They perform miracles in our day, in this time as in that time. And I salute you here, by the Western Wall, who dedicated the Temple here, our heroes the Maccabees.”