Netanyahu Lights Hanukkah Candles in Rome’s Main Synagogue

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited Rome’s main synagogue Sunday night and lit Hanukkah candles with his Italian counterpart Enrico Letta before he arrived at the Vatican for an audience with Pope Francis.

Speaking to the Jewish community and the media at Sunday’s ceremony, Netanyahu reiterated his warnings that the recent agreement on Iran’s nuclear program was a “historic error.”

Letta, saying he “knew Israel’s positions, doubts and fears,” turned to relations with Jews in Italy and stated that the current economic and social crisis fed “extremism, hate and intolerance,” and he pledged to resist the “racism, intolerance and xenophobia” that were growing in Italy “in a worrying manner.”

The two prime ministers held bilateral talks on Monday.