Netanyahu:

The Maccabean revolt that we celebrate made Judaism possible and that made Christianity possible.

When we celebrate Hanukkah, we’re celebrating the victory that saved Judeo-Christian civilization, which is the basis of our free civilization today.

Netanyahu:

Join us, Australia, in fighting the terrorists and fighting the enemies of civilization and fighting the barbarians.

If we join forces together, I have no doubt we shall win.

Asked “Do you have a secret with God?” on the anniversary of liberation, Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa says the “secret” isn’t mystical at all:

Victory does not come by miracle. The era of miracles is gone.

The true miracle is massive preparation… then releasing the arrow and leaving its accuracy to God.

Our problems won’t be solved by sitting home and just worshipping God.

“Oreshnik” has gone on combat duty in Belarus, Lukashenko said.

NOW: Zelensky meets with Polish President Nawrocki.

Meanwhile, Putin shows up for his end-of-year speech.

Putin:

So far, we do not see Ukraine’s readiness for peace.

Putin:

Ukraine is refusing to end this conflict through peaceful means.

Nevertheless, there are signals that they are prepared to conduct some sort of a dialogue.

We are prepared, and we want to end this conflict through peaceful means on the basis of principles that were described by me in June of last year.

Putin:

The enemy (Ukraine) is retreating in all directions.

Putin’s peace terms laid out in June 2024:

Ukraine must withdraw from all of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, and Zaporizhzhia (full regions).

Give up NATO, accept neutrality and demilitarization, and agree to vague “denazification.”

The West must lift all sanctions, and Crimea must be recognized as Russian.

Putin:

Unemployment was a historic low: 2.5 percent last year, even lower this year at 2.2 percent.

Foreign reserves of the central bank are growing and reached 741 billion dollars.

The budget deficit is 2.6 percent.

A question from a Russian citizen to Putin on his end-of-year speech:

“Why do ordinary people live worse than Papuans?”

Putin on frozen Russian assets:

Theft is not the right definition for this. Theft is secret. Here it’s done in the open, so it’s burglary.

The consequences are very serious for the burglars.

Putin on frozen Russian assets in Europe:

It undermines the trust. Many other countries are holding their reserves in the Eurozone, not just Russia.

First of all, these are oil producing regions, oil producing countries. They already have some doubts.

And if that actually happens, you can use the same thing under different pretext.

BREAKING: Trump said he is not ruling out war with Venezuela, telling NBC News, “I don’t rule it out.”

Trump to NBC News:

Maduro knows exactly what I want.

He knows better than anybody.

Trump said additional Venezuelan oil tankers could be seized, telling NBC News that if ships keep sailing, they could end up “back into one of our harbors.”