Netanyahu speaks at candlelighting ceremony
Netanyahu speaks at candlelighting ceremonyYonatan Sindel/Flash90

At a Hanukkah candle lighting ceremony Sunday, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told IDF soldiers that Israel faced a multi-front struggle – both on the battlefield and off.

“In this struggle that we are in, Israel is being attacked on two fronts simultaneously. It is being attacked by the terrorism of Hamas and the other terrorist organizations. It is also under a diplomatic attack led by the Palestinian Authority and which is designed to deny us our very right to defend ourselves and seeks to deny us the legitimacy of our very existence.”

Netanyahu participated in the ceremony at Latrun, where he was the guest of IDF soldiers in the tank corps.

"We are rebuffing both of these attacks,” Netanyahu said. “Over the weekend we sent a clear message to Hamas – we are not prepared to countenance the firing of even one rocket and we are responding accordingly and in strength.

“We also have a clear message to those who are leading the diplomatic assault against us,” the Prime Minister added. “It could be that the Palestinians will, in the very near future, submit to the UN Security Council their proposal to unilaterally force on Israel the establishment of a Palestinian state as well as other conditions that are unacceptable to us. We expect the responsible elements in the international community to reject this proposal.

“In any case, we will vigorously oppose it and will, of course, not act in accordance with any diktat,” he said.