The Times of Israel is liveblogging Wednesday’s events as they happen.
NYC Mayor Eric Adams calls himself a ‘modern day Maccabbee’ at Hanukkah event
NEW YORK — Mayor Eric Adams declares himself a “modern day Maccabbee” during a Hanukkah event held at New York City’s official mayoral residence.
Adams reflects on the history of Hanukkah in his speech to a roomful of Jewish supporters at Gracie Mansion in the Upper East Side.
“We have to ask ourselves, ‘Where are the Maccabbees today? Where are they? Who’s willing to stand up and fight for what is right?'” he says. “The symbol of the Maccabees is not only those of the Jewish faith, but it’s also those whom the Jewish people have helped throughout the years.”
He highlights the Jewish community’s contributions to other groups, such as the civil rights movement and humanitarian aid to Haiti.
“You will find that every place someone has been unfairly treated and persecuted, you saw Jewish organizations standing by and helping any way they can,” he says.
He vows to fight the “antisemitism that is rising across the entire region.”
“We’re committed to rid our city of any form of hate,” he says. “Eric Leroy Adams is a modern-day maccabee.”
New York Mayor Adams calls himself “modern day Maccabee” at Hannukkah party at his residence pic.twitter.com/jCOW1aWZDg
— Luke Tress (@luketress) December 18, 2024
Adams is introduced by the NYPD’s recently appointed commissioner, Jessica Tisch, who hails from a prominent Jewish family.
“This is a season of hope, resilience and renewal, values that resonate even more deeply this year,” Tisch says, linking the Hanukkah story to the October 7, 2023, invasion of Israel and subsequent surge in antisemitism in the United States. Jews are targeted in hate crimes in New York far more than any other group.
“Then, as now, ‘Am yisrael chai,’ the people of Israel live,” she says. “It’s a powerful message and a lesson we’re learning again today.”
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch: Hannukkah is “a powerful message and a lesson we are learning again today” pic.twitter.com/0YLmBDnK1O
— Luke Tress (@luketress) December 18, 2024
Adams is holding the yearly event as he contends with corruption charges that have thrown his reelection campaign into turmoil.
The election in the deep-blue city will likely be determined in the democratic party primary in June. Adams faces challengers including the city comptroller, Brad Lander, a progressive Jew, and former Jewish comptroller Scott Stringer, a centrist.
Former New York governor Andrew Cuomo is reportedly considering a run for mayor and has been repeatedly speaking out against antisemitism in recent months.
Lawsuit claims State Department skirting US human rights law with Israel military aid
WASHINGTON — The State Department has carved out exceptions for close ally Israel that block a US law restricting foreign military support over human rights abuses, a lawsuit from a group of Palestinians in Gaza and American relatives assert.
Former State Department officials and crafters of the 1997 Leahy law are among those advising and backing the lawsuit.
The lawsuit details the barriers that it accuses the State Department of creating on Israel’s behalf to skirt enforcement and asks courts to intervene. That is after campus protests and moves by some lawmakers failed in their goal of limiting US military support to Israel over civilian deaths in Gaza during the war with Hamas.
The law bars US military assistance to foreign military units when there is credible evidence of gross human rights abuses.
The State and Justice departments declines to comment. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has previously denied that the department has given Israel a pass. “Do we have a double standard? The answer is no,” he said in April.
‘Antisemitic liar’: Israel blasts Irish president’s claim that it wants to settle Egypt
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar castigates comments made today by Ireland’s president, who accused Israel of breaching Lebanon’s and Syria’s sovereignty and charged, without evidence, that Jerusalem is seeking to establish settlements in Egypt.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar yesterday defended his decision to close Israel’s embassy in Ireland, saying that Dublin “encouraged” antisemitism under a prime minister he accused of hating Jews.
Responding earlier today, Irish President Michael Higgins said that “it is a very serious business to actually brand a people because in fact they disagree with Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu, who is in breach of so many bits of international law, and who has beached the sovereignty of three of his neighbors, in relation to Lebanon, Syria, and would like in fact actually to have a settlement into Egypt.”
“I think to suggest that because one criticized Prime Minister Netanyahu that one is antisemitic is such a gross defamation and slander,” Higgins added during a ceremony where Palestinian Authority envoy Jilan Abdalmajid presented her letter of credence.
President Michael D Higgins has said that to say the Irish people are anti-Semitic is a "gross defamation and slander", and it is a "very serious business" to do so simply because people disagree with the actions of the Israeli Prime Minister.
Read more: https://t.co/hXpBuN3cHp pic.twitter.com/8axNrZ6YOB— RTÉ News (@rtenews) December 17, 2024
In a new English-language statement, Sa’ar says: “Once an antisemitic liar — always an antisemitic liar,” going on to defend Israel’s actions on all three fronts.
“From Lebanese territory, Israel’s sovereignty was breached for over a year,” he says. “For no reason and unprovoked, Hezbollah joined Hamas on October 8th [2023] and since then fired tens of thousands of missiles, rockets and drones at Israeli citizens and communities. Israel did what any country would — it defended itself against a brutal aggressor.”
On Syria, Sa’ar says: “While Assad’s regime disintegrated, armed groups entered the buffer zone and attacked UNDOF forces, in violation of the Disengagement Agreement from 1974. Israel temporarily entered a few limited points to prevent the threat of radical Islamists against its citizens and communities. Israel will not wait for another [onslaught resembling what Hamas did on] October 7th [2023] on any of its borders.”
And regarding the Egypt settlement claim, he says: “Higgins invented the claim that Israel seeks to form settlements there. In the context of our peace agreement with Egypt, Israel withdrew from a huge area — all of the Sinai desert, and uprooted all of its communities there. This peace agreement has been maintained since 1979.”
Concluding his combative statement, Sa’ar brings up Ireland’s failure to join the Allies in fighting Nazi Germany in World War II.
“Let us not forget that Ireland was at best neutral during World War II.
At that time, the free world was fighting Hitler’s axis while Ireland sat on the side and did nothing.”
Israel and Saudi Arabia deny report claiming ‘breakthrough’ in normalization talks
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office and Saudi Arabia have both denied a report that claimed there has been a “breakthrough” in US-brokered normalization talks between Jerusalem and Riyadh.
Haaretz claimed earlier that Saudi Arabia has given up its longtime demand for the creation of a Palestinian state as a precondition for a normalization of ties with Israel, instead making do with a vague Israeli promise of a “pathway toward a Palestinian state.”
After right-wing reporters, and politicians including Avigdor Liberman, understood the report to mean Netanyahu has agreed to promise a Palestinian state, the Prime Minister’s Office calls the report “a complete lie,” adding: “Prime Minister Netanyahu has worked and is working against the establishment of a Palestinian state that will endanger Israel’s security.”
Meanwhile, the Saudis also strongly deny the report, saying there has been no breakthrough.
“The notion that the kingdom’s leadership has somehow modified its longstanding commitment to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state is equally baseless,” a statement issued to reporters by an unnamed Saudi official says.
“The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will continue to work towards ending the war in Gaza and helping the Palestinian people achieve their right to an independent state,” the statement adds.