Scholz Lights giant Chanukkah Menorah at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate

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The German Chancellor lit the first light on a 10-metre Hanukkah menorah at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate, marking the start of the eight-day Jewish festival of lights, Hanukkah, and reiterating Germany's support for Israel in its war against Hamas on on Thursday. "This Hanukkah candlestick belongs right here, in front of the Brandenburg Gate, in the heart of our capital, as a symbol of hope and confidence, and as a symbol of the inseparable belonging of the Jewish faith and fellow Jewish citizens to this country of ours," said Scholz during the ceremony. The Rabbi of the Jewish Community of Berlin, Yehudah Teichtal, gave the German Chancellor a Hanukkah menorah and thanked him during the ceremony. "The terrible acts of October 7th affected not only us Jews, not only the Jewish Land, and not only the Jewish people but the entire democratic world. What should our answer be in Germany and all over the world? The answer is clear and distinct: light over darkness, democracy over terror. The answer affects all people in Germany and the world. The answer is that we do not withdraw, but completely on the contrary, more light, more joy, more Jewish consciousness," said the Rabbi . The guests of honour and speakers at the ceremony included the Mayor of Berlin, Kai Wegner, and the Ambassador of the State of Israel, Ron Proso. The ceremony came two months after Palestinian militant group Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping over 200 according to Israeli officials. Israel declared war on the group and a 'complete siege' of Gaza, with a large-scale campaign of air strikes which Palestinian officials reported had killed over 1,500 people in the first week - and many thousands more since. A ground incursion began at the end of the third, with Israeli leaders vowing to 'wipe out' Hamas.