Ministry of Foreign Affairs

17 December 2025

To:

Young Members of Chabad

Chabad Branches in Israel and the World

Dear Brothers and Friends,

At the beginning of the Festival of Light a heavy shadow fell upon us. The murderous attack at Chadad house in Sydney, in which innocent Jews were killed, including the Chabad representative rabbi Eli Schlanger z”l, a Holocaust survivor, and a young girl, Is a sharp pain that hits at the heart of the whole Jewish people. In these days when we are all lighting Hanukkah candles, the Jews of Australia and many Jews around the world are also lighting memorial candles, in memory of the victims of the terrible attack in Sydney.

This event is not disconnected from our times. We are witnesses to an international wave of anti-Semitism that raises its head with a strength we have not seen for decades. There are those who tried to perpetrate this under another name, and to wrap their hatred in false slogans. This is dangerous. When Jews are attacked because they are Jewish, when communities live in fear, and when public statements turn to legitimacy for violence and the murder of Jews, then this is anti-Semitism.

This creates an obligation to fight against anti-Semitism. We do not get used to it, we expose it. We do not normalize it, we stop it. Calls to “Globalize the Intifada” are not innocent expressions. Their implication is to hurt Jews everywhere. We cannot permit this. We must stop this. I will continue to say this to every government and to every institution that continues to close their eyes. The countries of the West stand before a simple choice, to fight against anti-Semitism or to normalize it. Those who normalize it bear the responsibility for the consequences.

In this reality, you, the representatives of Chabad are irreplaceable. I meet you in every corner of the world, sometimes far from diplomatic centres, but always close to the Jewish heart. The Chabad houses that you establish and run are an anchor, a home, an address, and sometimes a shelter. In places where official diplomacy reaches the end of its capacity, your mission begins, not as a force of authority, but as a force of involvement, of compassion, and of identity.

Our enemies are not only trying to hurt us physically. Their purpose is to cause fear, to extinguish the spirit, to hide Jewish symbols, to lower our profile, and to get used to a life of constant caution. Against that, your response is a deep Jewish response: to spread light, to increase activity, to open another door, to light another menorah, to raise the voice of proud Jewish identity, not as a provocation, but from the belief that darkness yields only to those who refuse to live under it.

The State of Israel stands by you. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, its representatives and employees, will continue to support the community in Sydney and the families of the victims, and are available to you wherever you request it. At the same time, we will continue to fight anti-Semitism with determination in the international arena.

This Hanukkah, beside the grief, there is another reality that is important to express. The people of Israel are not helpless. The force to protect Jews is strong, and the will of Israel to protect Jews is stronger than ever. The victims of Sydney will not be remembered only as a symbol of pain but also as a cry that obligates us to stand tall, to strengthen communities, and to continue the principled project that you bear on your shoulders.

May we be privileged to see the light overcome the darkness, to see security return to the Jewish community, and to see the spirit overcome the fear.

With blessings for happy Hanukkah,

Am Yisrael Chai - The people of Israel lives

Gideon Saar

Minister of Foreign Affairs