CHANNUKAH RE-ENACTMENT: IRAN AND ISRAEL

Publisher's note:  For those that don't fully understand what Channukah means and represents, Imre Beke spells it out very concisely, compactly, to the point, and how it compares with what is happening today between Israel and one of her staunchest enemies.

To all of our Jewish friends, The Patriots Press once again says Mazel Tov.

Imre Beke:  Roughly 2,200 years ago, the Holy Land was ruled by the Seleucid Empire, which was based in modern day Syria. While King Antiochus III permitted the Jewish people to continue practicing their religion, his son - Antiochus IV Epiphanes - sent military forces into Jerusalem at the request of a group of Jews called the Tobiads who wanted their people to become more "Hellenized" or modernized in their view. Antiochus IV outlawed the practice of Judaism even to the point of forbidding the circumcision of baby boys.

Eventually, the family of a priest named Mattiyahu led a revolt against Antiochus IV. Upon his death, his son Judah or Yehuda (eventually called Yehuda HaMakabi or Judah the Hammer), took over the role of leader of the revolution, drove Antiochus' forces from the Holy Land and rededicated the defiled Temple. 

As part of the rededication, an oil lamp was required to burn every night all through the night. However, they only had enough oil for one night and it would take eight days to prepare a fresh supply of purified oil for the lamp. Despite the lack of oil, the lamp continued to burn for eight days and nights without going out, thus proving that God will provide what is necessary for His People.

This miracle provided the basis for the celebration of the eight day festival of Chanukkah.

Today, the world is seeing a re-enactment of the events of the Chanukkah miracle. A nation of six million Jews which should not - by any rational measure - have been able to survive even one war of invasion by its Arab neighbors has repeatedly fought back against 120 million of them and emerged victorious. Again, the world is being shown that numbers are far less important than faith and determination.

In the last few weeks, we have been seeing even more pronounced parallels between the original Chanukkah events and today's tribulations facing Israel.

For several years, the Israelis have been fighting doggedly to end Iran's nuclear weapons program. They have used computer worms and quietly taken out Iranian nuclear scientists. To any objective observer, they have done an almost miraculous job at delaying Iran's acquisition of a nuclear weapon by many years. That is until the USA, the United Kingdom and other Western nations stabbed Israel in the back in recent weeks by negotiating an appeasement based "deal" with Iran which gives the Iranians multiple major concessions yet gains neither the West nor Israel anything of significance in return.

The Iranians are gaining billions of dollars in freed up revenues, the unfettered ability to enrich uranium up to 5% and - most importantly - the time to position themselves such that they will have the upper hand in the next round of "negotiations." We - on the other hand - get nothing of any true value.

For the first time, America and our European allies have agreed to allow an open and notorious state sponsor of terrorism to not only possess nuclear materials but to continue progressing with a nuclear power program which will doubtless lead to eventual possession by Iran of one or more nuclear weapons. In the meantime, Iran has no limits on the amount of 5% enriched uranium it may possess and there are no guarantees that it will not transfer some portion of that material to terrorist groups to use in a "dirty bomb."

Indeed, Iran has been a primary sponsor of Hezbollah for decades. Iran is the primary protector of the Assad regime in Syria which had previously been the godfather to Hezbollah's anti-Israel atrocities. Both Syrian and Iran share responsibility for at least part of the chaos which all but destroyed Lebanon from the early 80s through the 90s and even into today as Lebanon struggles to rebuild. The probability that Iran will give radiological substances to Hezbollah at some point is very high, to the point of almost certainty.

Iran's repeated insistence that Israel will be destroyed places them firmly in the role of the modern day successor to the Seleucid Empire. Its imperial ambitions to build an Islamist Caliphate only serve to further cement Iran in that position. However, Iran poses a peril far beyond the Middle East. If allowed to join the elite club of nuclear weapon wielding countries, Iran is highly likely to use one or more such weapons against Western nations, the primary probable target being the United States. Despite protestations of the Iran appeasement crowd, Iran does not need a missile based delivery system. Simply placing a sufficiently powerful nuclear weapon on a ship and detonating it in one of our major shipping harbors prior to inspection will be enough to not only kill hundreds of thousands and poison a major American city forever but also to cripple our economy by denying us a port for import and export. What use of a nuclear weapon would do to a small country such as Israel is a horror beyond imagination.

In the face of this modern day Antiochus-like threat to Israel and to the entire world stands one man with the determination and strength of will to be a modern day Macabees: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He has denounced the Western deal with Iran in no uncertain terms and begun forging a highly unusual alliance with Saudi Arabia to find a way to stop Iran. If anyone is capable of putting an end to Iran's nuclear ambitions, Netanyahu is that man.

Truth be told, it will require a miracle. On the other hand, it would be far from the first such miracle to protect Israel from the evil plans of evil men.