An event marking the lighting of the first candle of Hanukah, entitled “Lighting Sovereignty Over the Jordan Valley” was held today at the foot of the Sartaba in the Jordan Valley.

A number of organizations joined forces for the event: The Sovereignty Movement, Jordan Valley Council, Regavim, the ZOA, Israel is Forever, AFSI and Save the West.

During the event, which was broadcast online to thousands of supporters in Israel and abroad, a special survey was presented, which investigated the position of the Israeli public on the question of sovereignty over the Jordan Valley. The survey revealed that there is support by a solid majority of the general public in Israel for applying sovereignty over the Valley, and among right-wing voters it wins 79.7 percent support, compared with only 11 percent who oppose it.

A special panel, moderated by journalist Emily Amroussi, included Coalition Chairman MK Miki Zohar, Head of Jordan Valley Council David Elhayani, Maj. Gen. (res.) Uzi Dayan and Maj. Gen. (res.) Gershon Hacohen. MK Zohar called for taking advantage of the window of political opportunity, even before the change of government in the U.S., to apply Israeli sovereignty over the Valley. Zohar stated that for the sake of history as well as security, it is an obligation to apply sovereignty over the entire Land of Israel, including the Jordan Valley as well as Judea and Samaria, but according to him, the Kahol Lavan party thwarted any step of sovereignty that the Likud attempted to promote.

MK Uzi Dayan stated that even if the application sovereignty itself is delayed, we must act to develop the Valley, to strengthen the settlement and tourism in this part of the Land. He also said that he is working, together with the heads of regional councils, to prepare an organized plan to strengthen the settlement in the Valley, so that it will be possible to carry out the plan even during a transitional government.

Maj. Gen. (res.) Gershon Hacohen laid out a logical approach to the critical importance of the Jordan Valley to Israel’s security and emphasized that there is no substitute for the presence of civilian settlement to secure our hold on this part of the Land. He vehemently rejected the idea of American responsibility for security over the Jordan Valley, based to past experience.

Remarks by members of Knesset and public figures on their personal and public commitment to sovereignty in the Jordan Valley were also presented. Among them were Minister Gila Gamliel, Minister Ofir Akunis, Deputy Minister Yoav Kish, MK, former Defense Minister Moshe (Bogey) Ya’alon, MK Oded Forer, Mort Klein, Atty Marc Zell, Ken Abramowitz, Judy Kadish, Guy Milliere and others.

During the evening, historian Dr. Gershon Bar Kochba gave a lecture on events of Jewish heroism in the Jordan Valley throughout history and Rav Shmuel Eliyahu, rabbi of the Sovereignty Movement, lit the first light of Hanukah.

The co-chairwomen of the Sovereignty Movement, Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar, sum up the event with great satisfaction, in view of the willingness of the various public figures to join the call to the Prime minister and governmental ministers to take the step of sovereignty over the Jordan Valley immediately. “It is still possible to correct the mistake made by the Israeli government when it did not keep its promise to apply sovereignty over the Jordan Valley. Promises have been made and declared both by Prime Minister Netanyahu and by Deputy Prime Minister Benny Gantz, but so far, nothing has been done to realize the promises”.

“This time we will not be satisfied with promises and declarations. This time we demand a practical step even before the elections. Applying sovereignty even over a small area is enough to continue in the direction that the People of Israel has been working toward for generations, the Zionist dream of many generations, the restoration of Israel’s sovereignty over its Land”, say Katsover and Matar.