Netanyahu: Without the Maccabees, there would be no United States

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed that if the "Jewish Maccabees" had failed in their revolt against the Seleucid Empire, there would be no United States of America.

This came during Netanyahu's incursion into the Al-Buraq Square in occupied East Jerusalem to light a candle for the Jewish holiday "Hanukkah" (Festival of Lights) on Monday, according to a statement from his office on Tuesday evening.

Netanyahu was accompanied in the incursion by his wife Sarah, US Ambassador Mike Huckabee, and a number of Israeli soldiers.

From in front of the Western Wall, Netanyahu said in a filmed speech: "If the Maccabees had failed, there would be no Huckabee family, there would be no Judeo-Christian civilization, there would be no United States," according to his expression.

Jews celebrate the "Hanukkah" holiday in commemoration of the "victory of the Maccabees" over the Seleucid Empire in Palestinian lands in 165 BC, and this year's celebration runs from December 14 to 22.

The Maccabees are a Jewish family known for their long war to achieve political and cultural independence for Judaism during the Seleucid control over Palestinian lands in the third century BC.

They were rebels who took control of areas that were part of the Seleucid Empire, and among them emerged their leader Judah Maccabee, who called for a revolt to purify the Jews from the paganism that prevailed at the time.

Netanyahu often recalls these rebels on many occasions, one of which was on December 6, 2023, when he said in a press conference: "Our fighters are the generation that continues the path of the Maccabees."

He added: "As they wage this battle bravely these days," in reference to the genocide war that Israel launched in the Gaza Strip on October 8, 2023.

Rejecting UN resolutions that recognized the Western Wall as Palestinian land, Netanyahu said before his Likud party (right-wing) on December 19, 2017: "We had it (the Western Wall) and it will remain, the Palestinians had no existence during the Maccabees period," according to his claim.

As of 06:10 "GMT" on Wednesday, no American comment has been issued on Netanyahu's statements, and the United States is Israel's closest ally.

Washington has provided Tel Aviv with military, intelligence, and financial support since the genocide war in Gaza began, which has left more than 70,000 Palestinian dead and 171,000 injured, mostly children and women.

The United States also provides protection for Tel Aviv in the UN Security Council by repeatedly using its veto power against any resolution that Israel rejects, which the UN classifies as the occupying power in Palestinian territories.

On Tuesday, the "Hamas" movement considered Netanyahu's incursion into the Al-Buraq Square and settlers' incursions into the Al-Aqsa Mosque courtyards as a "provocative and rejected step," aimed at imposing Judaization on the mosque and the occupied city of Jerusalem.

Palestinians insist on East Jerusalem as the capital of their state, based on international legitimacy decisions, which do not recognize Israel's occupation of the city in 1967 or its annexation to it in 1980.

Israeli officials, led by Netanyahu, have repeatedly declared their rejection of establishing a Palestinian state, in defiance of international decisions issued by the UN that stipulate the implementation of the two-state solution (Palestinian and Israeli).

Israel was established in 1948 on Palestinian lands occupied by Zionist gangs that committed massacres and displaced hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, then Tel Aviv occupied the rest of Palestinian lands, in addition to other lands in neighboring Syria and Lebanon.

Source of the image inside the news: Israeli Prime Minister's account on the X platform