The Hanukkah story is based on historical events that took place in 165 BCE in Jerusalem, when the land of Judea was ruled by Antiochus, a Syrian King.
“The wicked ruler Antiochus Epiphanes, son of King Antiochus the Third of Syria, was a descendant of one of Alexander’s generals. Antiochus Epiphanes had been a hostage in Rome before he became king of Syria in the year 175 B.C.” [1 Maccabees 1:10]
When Antiochus IV came to power, the Jewish people did not readily fit into his vision for his new empire. He wanted to revive the broken empire of Alexander the Great. This meant to embrace the Hellenistic way of life and the worship of the Greek pantheon, especially Zeus. By taking the epitaph Epiphanes (“God Manifest”), Antiochus even claimed to be Zeus incarnate. Many of the pagan nations embraced and welcomed these policies, but in the land of Judea they caused a cultural civil war, notably among members of the high priestly families.
The King ordered the Jewish people to reject all their rituals and beliefs and forced them to worship Greek gods. According to the books of Maccabees and the Jewish historian Josephus, Antiochus plundered the Jerusalem Temple and carried off the sacred vessels—to help finance his campaigns. He even went as far as to profane the most sacred space in the Temple – the Holy of Holies – by erecting idols within it and sacrificing pigs upon the altar, presumably to Zeus.
The home of Mattathias, a priest in the village of Modiʿin, 17 miles northwest of Jerusalem, quickly became the center of resistance. With him were his five sons, John Gaddi, Simon Thassi, Judas Maccabeus, Eleazar Avaran, and Jonathan Apphus. When a Greek official tried to force Mattathias to make a sacrifice to a pagan god, he refused. However, another Jew stepped forward to make the offering. Watching this, Mattathias became so infuriated that he killed the man. This incident became the trigger for what history later recorded as the Maccabean revolt. More Jews rose up behind Mattathias and his five sons and fought the Greeks for their liberation. The family of Mattathias became known as the Maccabees, from the Hebrew word for “hammer”. Because they were said to strike hammer blows against their enemies.
Like other rulers before him, Antiochus underestimated the will and strength of his Jewish adversaries, and the powerful Greek army eventually became defeated. After three and a half years, the Jews won the war against impossible odds. In 164 BCE, Jerusalem was recaptured by the Maccabees. They found their Temple decimated.
The seven-branched candelabra called a menorah that was supposed to burn perpetually, symbolizing God’s eternal presence and promise to the Jewish people, was extinguished. The Jews found only a small jar of oil that had not been defiled by Antiochus. In a leap of faith, they lit the menorah. The jar contained only enough oil to burn for one day, but miraculously the oil burned for eight days until new consecrated oil could be found, establishing the precedent that the festival should last eight days.
Hanukkah, therefore, emerged as a celebration of the dedication, as the word itself suggests. It became the Jewish eight-day, wintertime “festival of lights,” celebrated with a nightly menorah lighting.
Standing with Israel 
Europe has been unenthusiastic towards the Abraham Accords because it remains wedded to the idea that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict must be solved before regional peace can be achieved, participants in a conference in Jerusalem said this week. Why???
https://www.jns.org/trapped-in-old-narrative-europe-slow-to-embrace-abraham-accords/
The Jewish News Syndicate (JNS) promotes the shallow political rhetoric that the EU favors prioritization of an Internationally imposed 2 State solution. The holes in this shallow reactionary reading: 1. Europe has a long history of deep-seated hostility against the Jewish people. Hitler’s ‘Final Solution’, virtually all EU state members actively or passively supported, except for Czechoslovakia who first hand experienced a Chamberlain/Hitler 2 State solution!
In the 1948 Independence War Europe expected to passively sit back and watch 5 Arab invading armies drive the Jews into the Sea, and only then intervene. Again Why??? Europe hungers to dominate the Middle East as “their” back yard. The ’48 Israeli victory shocked European leaders. Then came the 2nd Israeli Independence War of 1967. Nasser swore that this time the Arabs would finish the Nazi ‘Final Solution’. France and England declared their neutrality as they did in 1948.
Again, a Hanukkah miracle occurred, and Israel crushed the combined Arab armies, supplied by the USSR, of Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq. The victory once again put Europe in a state of absolute shock. Europe demanded a cessation of hostilities after 6 days of fighting! Who ever heard of a 6-day war fought on multiple fronts. Immediately after the War “neutral” France, that pretender victor of WWII, wrote UN Resolution 242. The basis of anti-Israel post ’67 Independence War UN Resolutions. Recently the UN General Assembly denounced Israel’s ’48 Independence War victory.
The EU abhors the termination of Jewish stateless refugee status. Post the Shoah disgrace no European country could denounce the right to Jewish self-determination based upon the Balfour treaty which served as the basis for the League of Nations awarding the “Palestine Mandate” to England after WWI. But the 6 Day War victory completely changed the balance of power in the Middle East and 3rd world Europe released its hysteria and condemnation of the Jewish People of Israel. Surprise Surprise — NOT.
The foreign attempts to deny Israeli national independence — expressed through the repeated UN condemnations of Israel, as if Israel did not really exist as an independent nation state. The UN to this day does not recognize Israel as a nation state within the community of nations of the Middle East! But rather a UN protectorate territory. This talking puppet of ‘Great Power’ interests simply assumes that the UN determines the borders and Capital of the Jewish state. How many European Capitals keep their embassies in Tel Aviv rather than Jerusalem???
The EU 2 State Solution directly resembles the post WWII division of Germany into Two States. The EU wants to divide Jerusalem as did the Allies Berlin. Rome suggests to this day that Jerusalem should become an International City dominated by European US and Russian powers! Herein explains President Trump’s break with Europe through the Abrams Accords.
No “Peace” exists between Israel and Europe. The hype on an Israeli/Balestinian “Peace” directly resembles the hysteria over Climate Change. The French built the Iraqi nuclear power plant. Israelis like myself argue that post Shoah, Europe lost its ‘white man’s burden’ moral superiority.
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