As Jews around the world light Hanukkah menorahs this week, they commemorate what may be the most explicitly Zionist holiday in the Jewish calendar. The story of Hanukkah recounts the Maccabean Revolt of the second century C.E. After the Seleucid Greeks sought to suppress Jewish religious practice and identity, Jews fought to reclaim sovereignty in their homeland. The Maccabees’ wanted the Jews to have independence in the land of Judea so that they could worship God according to the dictates of their conscience. In other words, Hanukkah is a celebration of religious liberty and Jewish national liberation. The Jewish people survived two millennia of statelessness, persecution, pogroms, expulsions and a holocaust by maintaining a deep connection to these biblical roots—a lesson America must heed in its time of political turmoil. Even in times of darkness—including in defiance of the Nazi regime—the menorah’s light served as a beacon of hope and resilience, a reminder of the miracle of Jewish endurance against all odds. During Hanukkah in 1931, Rabbi Akiva Posner’s family placed a menorah in the window—an outward sign of their faith. Through the panes, a swastika flag is seen on a Nazi Party office. The family fled Nazi Germany in 1933 with the candleholder. Their descendants still light it. pic.twitter.com/VmEJ8RiNkQ— US Holocaust Museum (@HolocaustMuseum) December 25, 2024 Today, just as the Jewish state draws strength from its ancient connections to the Land and God of Israel, America will flourish only if we remain committed to the Judeo-Christian heritage that forms our nation’s foundation. At its core, Zionism is the belief that Jews have the right to self-determination in the ancient Jewish homeland of Israel, where Jews have maintained a continuous presence for more than 3,300 years. While Theodor Herzl established a formal Zionist political movement in the 1890s, the Zionist aspiration is as old as the Jewish people itself and foundational to Judaism. Heritage Senior Research Fellow @EVKontorovich testified before the House Middle East and North Africa Subcommittee and explained why Judea and Samaria fall within Israel’s borders and why arguments that they are the legally mandated borders of any other state have no merit. pic.twitter.com/ndyOEuBFpe— Heritage Foundation (@Heritage) December 10, 2025 It begins with God promising the Land of Israel to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, which was fulfilled in the wake of the Israelites’ Exodus from Egypt. Following the Roman destruction of the Second Temple in 70 C.E., the yearning to return to home and rebuild the Temple has been woven into the fabric of Jewish ritual and liturgy. Every Passover seder and Yom Kippur service conclude with “Next year in Jerusalem.” Jews also pray facing Jerusalem. Despite nearly 2,000 years of exile, the Jewish people’s enduring commitment to their foundational story and principles provides the foundation for Israel’s resilience today. This same story of Jewish perseverance inspired the men and women who built America. As our Heritage Foundation colleague Katie Pavlich recently observed, the “history of America and Israel didn’t start in 1948. It goes back to 1776, when American rebels looked to the Promised Land, its foundational story, and were inspired to reject the British Empire in pursuit of their own nation.” Benjamin Franklin’s proposal for America’s Great Seal would have depicted Moses extending his hand over the Red Sea causing it to overwhelm Pharoah, encircled by the motto: “Rebellion to Tyrants is Obedience to God.” Rendering of Franklin’s proposed Great Seal by Benson J. Lossing for Harper’s New Monthly Magazine in July 1856. Likewise, in a letter to the Hebrew Congregation of Savannah in 1790, newly elected President George Washington drew parallels between America’s founding and the Israelites’ exodus, invoking “the same wonder-working Deity, who long since delivered the Hebrews from their Egyptian oppressors, planted them in a promised land, whose providential agency has lately been conspicuous in establishing these United States as an independent nation.” John Adams went even further. In a remarkable letter to the Jewish American patriot Mordecai Manuel Noah, Adams expressed explicit support for Jewish restoration to their homeland. “I could find it in my heart to wish that you had been at the head of a hundred thousand Israelites indeed as well disciplin’d as a French army—& marching with them into Judea & making a conquest of that country & restoring your nation to the dominion of it—For I really wish the Jews again in Judea an independent nation.” Adams’ sympathy for Jewish sovereignty reflected his profound respect for the Jews. He maintained they “have done more to civilize Men than any other Nation,” as the Jews had preserved and propagated “to all Mankind the Doctrine of a Supreme intelligent wise, almighty Sovereign of the Universe,” which he held to be “the great essential Principle of all Morality and consequently of all Civilization.” Indeed, the concepts of covenant, rule of law, limited government, human dignity and justice that shape the American constitutional order stem from the biblical tradition. They are not arbitrary human constructs, but principles derived from the understanding that human beings are endowed by our Creator with inherent dignity and purpose. Our country’s founders saw themselves as building on a foundation laid in ancient Israel, and drew from Hebrew scripture for models of governance and moral law. At the unveiling of the Pilgrimage Road at the City of David in Jerusalem earlier this year, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio observed, “It was here that God fulfilled His promise to His people.. that the lessons that formed the base rock and the foundations of our laws, of the principles upon which we decide what is right and what is wrong, was built upon. If you think about the things that today we, in civilized societies, use as rules to govern us, these things did not come because good people wrote them. They came because they were rooted in ancient teachings.” The parallel between Israel and America is instructive. The Jewish state flourishes because of its people’s connection to their ancient heritage and founding principles. Similarly, America’s strength depends on our faithfulness to the principles that shaped our founding. Those who seek to cut America off from its Judeo-Christian roots would destroy the tree of liberty itself. Just as a tree severed from its roots cannot long survive, nor, too, can a nation that abandons its founding principles. The light of the Hanukkah menorah reminds us of a timeless truth. It reminds us thata people who maintain their connection to their roots will endure and flourish. The story of Israel and the Jewish people demonstrate this truth. America must learn—or relearn—the same lesson. Our strength and our future depend on remaining faithful to the Judeo-Christian heritage that made us a beacon of freedom and human dignity to the world. The post A Hanukkah Lesson for America: Without Our Roots, the Tree of Liberty Dies appeared first on The Daily Signal.

As terrorists opened fire at a Jewish event at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, a bystander charged one of the gunmen, tackled him to the ground, and ripped the weapon from his hands. According to Australian media, the man has been identified as 43-year-old Ahmed al-Ahmad, a father of two who owns a fruit shop. In a viral video shared on X, al-Ahmad emerges from behind a car and tackles one of the terrorists from behind, ripping the gun from his hands. He briefly points the weapon at the attacker as he retreats, then places it down against a nearby tree. The man who bravely tackled one of the shooters has been identified as 43-year-old Ahmed al-Ahmad. pic.twitter.com/U5B1rH5HHx — Kassy Akiva (@KassyAkiva) December 14, 2025 The terrorist then walks back to the other shooter, picks up another gun, and continues firing until he is shot. One gunman was killed and another was critically injured after being shot. Police are reportedly investigating whether there was a third gunman. Al-Ahmad’s cousin told Australia’s News 7 that al-Ahmad was shot twice during the attack, once in the arm and once in the shoulder. He is undergoing surgery and is expected to make a full recovery. Twelve people have been confirmed dead and 29 others were rushed to the hospital following the attack on the “Chanukah by The Sea” event honoring the first night of the Jewish holiday of Chanukah, including Rabbi Eli Schlanger. At least 1,000 people are reported to have been in attendance. Authorities also found “several improvised explosive devices” inside a car, according to Australia News 7. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called the attack an act of “evil antisemitism.” “There are nights that tear at the nation’s soul. In this moment of darkness, we must be each other’s light,” he said. “An attack on Jewish Australians is an attack on every Australian, and every Australian tonight will be like me, devastated by this attack on our way of life.” My statement on the Bondi shooting attack. pic.twitter.com/LRAbMpcUEm — Anthony Albanese (@AlboMP) December 14, 2025 Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the attack, noting that “Antisemitism has no place in this world.” “The United States strongly condemns the terrorist attack in Australia targeting a Jewish celebration,” he said. “Our prayers are with the victims of this horrific attack, the Jewish community, and the people of Australia.” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the man before his identity was made known. “I saw a video of a Jew who lunges at one of the murderers, disarms him of the weapon, and saves who knows how many souls.” נתניהו על הפיגוע באוסטרליה: “ראיתי סרטון של יהודי שמתנפל על אחד המרצחים שומט ממנו את הנשק ומציל מי יודע כמה נפשות” העובדות: על פי הדיווח באוסטרליה האדם שצולם מתנפל על הרוצח הוא מוסלמי בשם אחמד, בעל דוכן מיצים באיזור. pic.twitter.com/DlkPfaBxTm — בודקים (@bodkim2022) December 14, 2025

Days after Hamas attacked Israel in 2023, killing some 1,200 people and sparking the war in Gaza, an inverted red triangle was spray-painted on the front of a Jewish bakery in Sydney, the first of a string of antisemitic incidents in Australia. Sixteen months and thousands of arson, firebombing, graffiti, and hate-speech incidents later, the head of the nation’s main intelligence agency declared that antisemitism was his number one priority in terms of threat to life. Sunday’s shooting attack on a Hanukkah celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach, which killed at least 12 people and wounded dozens, brought to reality a fear that many Australian Jews say they have been living with: that they are no longer safe in the country that was supposed to protect them. “This is the worst fears of the Jewish community,” Alex Ryvchin, co-CEO of the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, told Sky News. “It’s been bubbling under the surface for a long time, and now it’s actually happened.” Australia’s Jewish diaspora is small but deeply embedded in the wider community, with about 150,000 people who identify as Jewish in the country of 27 million. About one-third of them are estimated to live in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, including Bondi. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, calling the Hanukkah shootings a devastating terrorist attack targeting Jewish people, said his government would “dedicate every resource to making sure you are safe and protected.” Amid constant reports of Jewish parents afraid to take their children to daycare and Jewish schools hiring extra security, the government last year appointed its first special envoy to combat antisemitism. “Being Jewish, it’s been a very challenging few years,” said Terry, who gave only his first name and was at a nearby Hanukkah event that was put into lockdown. “Maybe we need to move to Israel one day. The irony is that that’s looking like the only real safe place in the world we can be as Jews.” Ryvchin’s organisation logged some 1,600 anti-Jewish incidents in the year to September 30, about three times the number in any year before the Hamas attack and Israel’s response, according to a report it published this month. One of those incidents was antisemitic graffiti on Ryvchin’s former home near Bondi Beach in January, the report said. Other incidents included a childcare centre firebombed and emblazoned with antisemitic graffiti, also in Sydney’s eastern suburbs, and two public hospital nurses who were sacked after being captured on a social media video-chat platform saying they would turn away Israeli patients. “The inevitable has happened now,” said Rabbi Levi Wolff of Central Sydney Synagogue, speaking in Bondi. As a Jew in Australia, he added, “You’re always looking behind you.” Reporting by Byron Kaye and Pete McKenzie; Editing by William Mallard

'We have a lot of recovery ahead of us'