The joint declaration by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, signed exactly one week before Chanukah begins, is "designed to jeopardize Jewish lives and Israel's integrity," warned Chabad Rabbi Shea Hecht. This year's observance of Chanukah, the Festival of Lights should put Israel's enemies on "yellow alert," according to Hecht, chairman of the New York-based National Committee for the Furtherance of Jewish Education (NCFJE).
"Years ago, Jews were forced to make a choice between international popularity, what was comfortable and what was right," he said, adding that "their survival depended on their ability to withstand discomfort and the censure of the world around them." The traditional observance, in which food is fried "in the same oil used to fuel the eternal flame in the Holy Temple…should serve as a warning to Israel's enemies," he added.
Hecht told Israel National News he believes that Jewish tenacity, "even with the sword at our throats, will prompt Israelis to draw the red line at giving away more land and selling Jerusalem, the heart of our heritage, to the PA."