Hanukkah in the Knesset: Seventh candle lit in the Israeli parliament

The Knesset held a ceremony lighting the seventh candle of Hanukkah tonight (Tuesday), adding light to an acrimonious struggle to pass a crucial law for the governing coalition.

Following a long, extended knife fight to pass a critical tax law, where Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu was forced to come to vote after surgery and MK Boaz Bismut had to leave the shiva for his mother, the Knesset held a menorah lighting ceremony in the Knesset for the first time.

The ceremony was attended by the Prime Minister, Knesset Chairman Amir Ohana, ministers, and MKs. In addition, a yellow-colored candle was lit for the swift return of the hostages.

Ohana said that "we are lighting the candles in a shared prayer for the return of all the hostages, the soldiers' returning home healthy in body and mind, the return of the evacuees to their homes, and the swift recovery of all the wounded."