FIDF Live Briefing : Col. Dr. Mordechai Keidar, VP of Newsreal - December 21, 2025

This FIDF briefing frames Hanukkah as a moment of both joy and deep pain, then brings on Dr. Mordechai 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. In the geopolitical segment, the conversation turns to fears about Islamist influence and political shifts in the West, with Kedar warning that what’s happening in Europe and the U.S. reflects a growing ideological threat. He closes with a stark message: Israel is the “canary in the mine,” and its fate is tied to the security of the broader Western world.