Hannukah in Gaza | The American Spectator

On December 17th I watched a broadcast by the Israel Defense and Security Forum of a Hannukah celebration by the storied IDF Golani Brigade in Gaza. More specifically the celebration took place in Rafah, the area of Gaza where a year ago the Biden administration admonished Israel not to go with his famous, “Don’t.” It was a joyous celebration as have been all Hannukah celebrations that I have personally attended this year even after the horrific terror attack at a Jewish Hannukah celebration on Bondi beach in Sydney, Australia. There was the lighting of candles with the customary blessings along with singing and circle dancing. I didn’t see any latkes or sufganot (Jewish Hannukah donuts) being served but there were probably some on hand. was this the first Hannukah celebration in that now famous territory because Jewish on and off Jewish communities have existed in Gaza for hundreds of years, well before the founding of Islam.

Although it was not reported in the mainstream media, shortly after the IDF began operations in Gaza following the October 7th invasion by Hamas, Israeli soldiers were praying in an ancient synagogue in the territory dating back to 508 A.D., predating the founding of Islam by a century. Characteristically its floor used to contain a mosaic depicting a man playing the harp. (After the Six-Day War it was defaced by Arabs and consequently moved to the Israel Museum for protection.) The harpist’s name, David, is written on the floor in Hebrew, it Nor being a mosaic of King David.

Earlier on, in the 3rd century Gaza contained a Jewish town called Kfar Darom. That town was destroyed numerous times but at the end of the 19th century, its land was acquired by Tuvia Miller of the city of Rehovot who transformed its swamps into a blossoming orchard. And then, once again, Arabs destroyed the orchard and its well during the anti-Jewish riots of 1936 to 1939. Jews returned to Kfar Darom in October 1946 along with 10 other communities, but the town was once again evacuated during Israel’s War of Independence following the Egyptian siege of 1948 and 1949. Then history repeated itself when it became the first Jewish community to be rebuilt in Gaza following the 1967 Six-Day War.

The Torah, in describing the land God gave to Abraham makes it clear that Gaza is part of the biblical Land of Israel (Eretz Yisrael), and became part of the land given to the tribe of Yehudah (or “Judah,” which became “Judea,” The Torah also describes both Abraham and Isaac sojourning in Gaza. When the Jews entered Canaan in the 13th century B.C., Joshua divided the land between the 12 Tribes. Even though Gaza was given to the tribe of Yehudah, they never lived there, and it eventually became an Egyptian outpost later conquered by the Philistines. The Philistines were, famously, enemies of the Jews as recorded in the Book of Judges, which tells the story of Samson and Delilah which took place in Gaza.

In 145 B.C. twenty years after the Hasmonean revolt and the re-dedication of the Temple and the miracle of the oil, commemorated by the celebration of Hannukah, Judah the Maccabee’s brother Jonathan, conquered Gaza and moved there. It was at that point, over 2,000 years ago, that Gaza was absorbed into the Hasmonean Kingdom, becoming part of Judea. Eventually Gaza became more than an agricultural community. A few hundred years later during to the Talmudic era Gaza became a major center of Jewish learning. It was then when Kfar Darom and many other Jewish communities were founded and when the synagogue containing the mosaic depicting King David was built along with many other synagogues and a yeshiva (Jewish school).

Jews flourished in Gaza for almost 300 years during the Middle Ages, including in the city of Rafiah (Rafah) until the Crusaders completely destroyed those communities in the 12th century. After the Crusades, Jews began moving back to Gaza. The 15th century saw an influx of even more Jews into Gaza having been expelled from Portugal and Spain, and fleeing the Inquisition. The Jewish roots of Gaza run so deep that there were carvings of Jewish symbols, including a menorah, in the “Great Mosque of Gaza.” Those were also destroyed by Arabs in the 20th century.

Therefore, there is nothing new about Jews celebrating Hannukah in Gaza (which is known in Israel as Aza). The Jewish presence in Gaza goes back millennia. Jews were living and thriving there centuries before Islam even existed, and the largest Jewish community at the time of the Muslim invasion of the 7th century was, in fact, in Gaza.

So much for the myth that Gaza has always been part of an independent state called “Palestine.”

But what is going to happen to Gaza now, following President Trump’s Twenty-Point Peace Plan and the return of all but one of the remaining hostages from Gaza, the late Police Master Sergeant Ran (Rani) Givili? In compliance with the plan Israel has withdrawn to what is called the Yellow Line and now has complete control over a little more than fifty percent of the territory while Hamas controls Gaza City and the rest. Hamas for its part has repudiated the second step in the plan in which it is required to lay down its arms and has vowed never to do so. Practically speaking the plan cannot move forward without that happening.

There are all sorts of standoffs taking place now. The UAE has refused to participate in reconstruction efforts as long as its enemy Qatar, which wants to rebuild its client Hamas, is involved. There is no international force willing and able to disarm Hamas forcibly. Only Israel has the motivation and ability and is willing to make the sacrifice in blood and treasure to do so.

And while the lies and sensationalism of the mainstream media have kept the world’s focus on Gaza, the same holds true for the situation in the north vis-a-vis Hezbollah. Hezbollah has always been and still remains the greatest threat to Israel and like Hamas has refused to disarm and is trying to regroup. With respect to that ceasefire, the Lebanese army has been unable to disarm Hezbollah and the IDF has therefore been obliged to smack it down as it continuously violates the ceasefire while trying to reassert itself.

As the year-end deadline for Hezbollah’s disarmament approaches, Israel is preparing for the possibility that the task will fall to the IDF. Given the limitations of air power alone, ground operations may be required. In the aftermath, Lebanon may seek to join the Abraham Accords and pursue a formal peace treaty with Israel.

As to Gaza, until Trump is willing to give Israel the go-ahead to disarm Hamas — it appears that the President is hoping to expand the Abraham Accords before doing so — Israel has declared the Yellow line to be the new border with Gaza. Israel’s communities in the south are now pretty secure and can rebuild. Ten thousand Jews were forcibly uprooted from Gaza in order to give the Palestinians the opportunity to have the beginning of a state of their own and we now know how that experiment turned out. One cannot say if there will ever again be Jewish communities in Gaza after it is reconstituted into whatever it is destined to be. But the way things are going it is not unlikely that there will be other Hannukah celebrations in Gaza in the future.

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