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‘Sunday Night Football’ to feature first-ever Hanukkah menorah lighting
(JTA) — When the New York Giants and Washington Commanders face off on “Sunday Night Football” this weekend, there will be two extra lights inside the stadium.
Sunday is the first night of Hanukkah, and for the first time ever, the National Football League’s marquee game will feature a menorah lighting.
Organized by Chabad’s teen network, CTeen International, and Chabad of Maryland, the lighting will take place after the game’s first quarter in Washington. It will be displayed on FedExField’s jumbotrons; it is not clear whether the NBC broadcast will show the lighting on television.
According to Chabad, East Coast chapters of the teen movement will attend the game, while local rabbis will lead a menorah parade and tailgate party outside the stadium, where they’ll distribute menorahs, latkes and sufganiyot, or Hanukkah doughnuts, to Jewish fans.
“With eighty thousand fans watching from the stands and upwards of eighteen million tuning in from home, the prime-time game’s first public menorah lighting spreads Hanukkah’s light at a time when popular culture reels from antisemitism,” Chabad said in a statement to the Jerusalem Post.
According to NBC data, “Sunday Night Football” has owned primetime’s top slot for 11 straight years, averaging 19.3 million viewers in 2021. FedExField, located just east of Washington, D.C., fits 82,000 fans.
“It’s a truly unprecedented opportunity to share the warmth and light of Hanukkah,” Rabbi Mendy Kotlarsky of CTeen International told the Post.
The public display comes at a time of increased antisemitism, including in the sports world.
Last month, an Australian Jewish teen was drafted into the country’s leading football league, only to face a barrage of online hate, while the antisemitism controversy surrounding Brooklyn Nets star Kyrie Irving made headlines for much of the fall.
Neither the Giants nor the Commanders have any Jewish players — there are only a handful in the entire league. Washington owner Dan Snyder, who is under multiple investigations for alleged financial and sexual misconduct in his organization, is Jewish and is a member of the Greater Washington Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. He is considering selling the franchise.
John Mara, president and co-owner of the Giants, is not Jewish but has previously expressed frustration when his team’s schedule has overlapped with Jewish holidays. He voiced his displeasure earlier this season when the Giants played on Rosh Hashanah, saying, “We have always requested the league take the Jewish High Holy Days into consideration when formulating our schedule.” (Mara’s co-owner, decorated film producer and team chairman Steve Tisch, is Jewish.)
This weekend’s game holds extra importance on the field, too: The Giants and Commanders are currently tied in the standings and are both vying for a playoff spot.
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The post ‘Sunday Night Football’ to feature first-ever Hanukkah menorah lighting appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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Israel’s Ben-Gvir Visits Flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound
Israeli politician Itamar Ben-Gvir walks inside the Knesset, in Jerusalem, Oct. 13, 2025. Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Pool via REUTERS
Israel’s far-right police minister Itamar Ben-Gvir visited the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in Jerusalem on Sunday, saying he was seeking greater access for Jewish worshipers and drawing condemnation from Jordan and the Palestinians.
The compound in Jerusalem’s walled Old City is one of the most sensitive sites in the Middle East. Known to Jews as Temple Mount, it is the most sacred site in Judaism and is Islam’s third-holiest site.
Under a delicate, decades-old arrangement with Muslim authorities, it is administered by a Jordanian religious foundation and Jews can visit but may not pray there.
Suggestions that Israel would alter the rules have sparked outrage among Muslims and ignited violence in the past.
“Today, I feel like the owner here,” National Security Minister Ben-Gvir said in a video filmed at the site and distributed by his office. “There is still more to do, more to improve. I keep pushing the Prime Minister (Benjamin Netanyahu) to do more and more — we must keep rising higher and higher.”
A statement from the Jordanian foreign ministry said it considered Ben-Gvir’s visit to be a violation of the status quo agreement at the site and “a desecration of its sanctity, a condemnable escalation and an unacceptable provocation.”
The office of Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, said such actions could further destabilize the region.
Ben-Gvir’s spokesman said the minister was seeking greater access and prayer permits for Jewish visitors. He also said that Ben-Gvir had prayed at the site.
There was no immediate comment from Netanyahu’s office. Previous such visits and statements by Ben-Gvir have prompted Netanyahu announcements saying that there is no change in Israel’s policy of keeping the status quo.
Muslim, Christian and Jewish sites, including Al-Aqsa had been largely closed to the public during the Iran war. There was no immediate sign of unrest on Sunday after Ben-Gvir’s visit.
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Netanyahu Visits Troops Fighting Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference at the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem, Aug. 10, 2025. Photo: ABIR SULTAN/Pool via REUTERS
i24 News – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Israeli forces operating in southern Lebanon on Sunday as military operations against Hezbollah-linked targets continue.
Netanyahu toured forward positions alongside Defense Minister Yisrael Katz, Eyal Zamir, and Northern Command Commander Rafi Milo, meeting troops and receiving operational briefings from commanders on the ground.
Speaking to soldiers, Netanyahu praised their performance and said operations in the Lebanese security zone were ongoing.
“The war continues, including within the security zone in Lebanon,” he said, adding that Israeli forces were working to prevent infiltration attempts and neutralize threats such as anti-tank fire and missiles.
He described the northern campaign as part of a broader regional struggle involving Iran and its allies, saying Israel’s adversaries were now “fighting for their survival” following sustained Israeli military pressure.
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Saudi Arabia Restores Full Capacity on East-West Oil Pipeline to 7 Million BPD After Attacks
FILE PHOTO: General view of Khurais NGL recovery plant in the eastern province of Saudi Arabia, June 28, 2021. Picture taken June 28, 2021. REUTERS/Mohammed Benmansour./File Photo
Saudi Arabia has restored full oil pumping capacity through the East-West pipeline to about seven million barrels per day, it said on Sunday, days after providing an assessment of damage on its energy sector from attacks during the Iran conflict.
The ministry said energy facilities and the pipeline affected by attacks during the conflict have recovered and restored operational capacity.
Saudi did not specify who launched the attacks, but the kingdom has intercepted many Iranian missiles and drones in recent weeks.
The strikes also disrupted operations at key oil, gas, refining, petrochemical and electricity sites in Riyadh, the Eastern Province and Yanbu Industrial City.
OUTPUT RECOVERY TO HELP SUPPLY CONTINUITY
Saudi said on Thursday the attacks had cut its oil production capacity by around 600,000 barrels per day and throughput on its East-West Pipeline by about 700,000 bpd.
The East-West Pipeline has been Saudi Arabia’s only crude export route amid the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Reuters reported on Wednesday that Iran attacked the pipeline just hours after the ceasefire was agreed.
The ministry said it recovered affected volumes from the Manifa oilfield, where output had previously been reduced by around 300,000 bpd.
Work was ongoing to restore full output at the Khurais facility, after strikes on it reduced Saudi capacity by a further 300,000 bpd, the ministry said.
It said the quick recovery would enhance the “reliability and continuity of supplies to local and global markets.”