Jewish-American aid organization Amaliah is expected to hold a rally Saturday night in Tel Aviv in solidarity with people of Aleppo in Syria, who are facing a dire situation at the hands of the Assad regime and its allies.
President of Amaliah, Moti Kahana, will light the first candle of Hanukkah and dedicate it to "the hope of a Hanukkah miracle" in Syria.
During an earlier protest, approximately 400 people formed a human chain stretching from the Russian embassy to the American embassy in Tel Aviv, with demonstrators calling for the two powers to step in and stop the bloodshed. Protestors carried signs reading "end the massacre of the Syrian people," and "stop the crimes."
Simultaneously, a campaign called Just Beyond Our Border was launched in recent days in an effort to raise funds from Israelis for the Syrian people.
Amaliah made headlines in recent months for funding outpatient treatment centersin Israel for Syrian children.
"I call upon Jewish people all over the world on the first night of Hanukkah to join us at Rabin Square and light a candle in the hope of a Hanukkah miracle for Syria," wrote Kahana in a Facebook post. "Just as the world was silent during the Holocaust, so are we while Syrians are being slaughtered. We swore 'never again,' yet we are continuing to be silent."
Following the deterioration of the situation in Syria, particularly in Aleppo, Amaliah published a video on social media sharing their activities. The video received three million views within a few days and the organization was bombarded with inquiries on how to help.
According to the organization, "even a donation of a dollar, a tweet or a share can help us get closer to the goal of bringing thousands of Syrians to Israel to receive medical treatment in 2017."
The rally is expected to bring Israeli Arab journalist Lucy Aharish and other public figures and artists. The organization is also planning on holding a similar rally in New York during Hanukkah and is calling on US President-elect Trump and his family to join.