This FIDF briefing brings on Dr. Kedar to place the current moment in a larger historical and ideological context
He argues that the core Hanukkah “miracle” is really Jewish resistance and survival, and he uses that lens to describe Israel’s resilience after Oct. 7 and its recent military campaigns as part of an ongoing, almost unbelievable national story.
From there, he expands into a broader claim that Israel’s very existence has repeatedly defied the odds—from the early Zionist period through successive wars—and he urges Jews in the diaspora to see aliyah as the safest long-term answer.
He rejects the term “anti-Semitism” in favor of “Jew hatred,” attributing it to a mix of religious replacement narratives and the recurring scapegoating of Jews as society’s “other,” with the Palestinian issue serving as today’s most common pretext.