War Heroes Hosted at the Knesset: "Maccabees of our time"

Knesset Chairman Amir Ohana lights the menorah on the eighth night of Hannukah. (Screenshot of Knesset Spokesperson video.)

Members of the security and rescue forces took part in the lighting of the menorah on the eighth night of Hannukah (Thursday) with Knesset Chairman MK Amir Ohana, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, and other MKs, where they told their own personal stories of the war.

The Knesset chairman, along with officer Yonathan Ben Hamo and members of the Taaseh family, said the blessing on the candles together. Ohana then spoke at the ceremony: “The spirit resting now on the battlefield – among the soldiers from Judea and Samaria, alongside the members of the kibbutzim, Tel Avivians and Beer Shevites, religious and non-religious, Druze, Muslims, Christians, Jews, brothers, soldiers – needs to also be the lot of the residents of this house and the while nation. This is the lesson of the front.”

“This is the lesson of the Seventh of October. And not just in time of war. Shoulder to shoulder – with the arguments, at times, but without hatred. We will light the last light of Hannukah in a prayer for the return home, safe and sound, of all our hostages and all our soldiers and security forces in Gaza and in the different sectors.”

Candle lighting at the Knesset. (Source: Knesset Spokesperson)

Heroes of the security and rescue forces then told their own personal stories to applause from the audience.

One of the most chilling of these came from a soldier in the Prison Service Masada unit, who fought in the terrible battle in Alumim against dozens of terrorists: “When we reached Kibbutz Alumim, we received information that the entrance to the kibbutz had become a kill zone and was controlled by dozens of terrorists,” he recalled.

“Upon entering the kibbutz, we encountered a large number of terrorists who kept firing at us, throwing grenades and firing rockets. We decided to outflank the terrorists and after a long battle and point blank encounters, we managed to neutralize them. We suffered injuries, but we continued to fight and with the aid of additional forces we stopped the killing spree and continued until the clearing of the kibbutz.”