During a small ceremony on December 10, the last day of the Jewish Hanukkah festival, temple activists dedicated a portable altar just outside the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. The dedication ceremony involved priests in traditional dress and a slaughtered lamb as an offering, although the sheep was slaughtered off-site.

As the United States moves forward with plans to exit from the INF arms control treaty with Russia and also discusses placing more missiles in Europe, Russian leaders are voicing growing concerns. Recently, the Russian ambassador to the EU warned that “the US risks triggering ‘dramatic events’ if it stations missiles in Europe” (Financial Times, November 21, 2018).