us us and see how many along with us and see how many you get right.7 we've got a big fun show coming up, but first, your news headunes up, but first, your news headlines with tatiana sanchez. >> good evening. the top stories from the gb newsroom this christmas day. his majesty the king has delivered his christmas message, emphasising the importance of community, compassion and service amid a turbulent year for both he and the princess of wales, who had their own health battles. in a break from tradition, king charles delivered this year's christmas speech from the fitzrovia chapel, a former hospital in central london. it's the first time in over a decade it hasn't been recorded at a royal residence, with the king choosing to praise the community response to the anger and

lawlessness of this summer's riots in towns and cities around the uk, and also to the selfless doctors and nurses who provided strength, care and comfort to both him and the princess of wales during their cancer treatments. >> from a personal point of view, i offer special, heartfelt thanks to the selfless doctors and nurses who this year have supported me and other members of my family through the uncertainties and anxieties of illness, and have helped provide the strength, care and comfort we have needed. i am deeply grateful too, to all those who have offered us their own kind words of sympathy and encouragement. >> this morning, the king attended the royal family's traditional christmas day church service. the king and queen camilla walked the short distance from sandringham house to saint mary magdalene church, past a crowd of well—wishers. they were joined by the prince and princess of wales and their

children, the princess royal and the duke and duchess of edinburgh. also part of that walking party. absent, though, was the duke of york, who has been accused of having links to an alleged chinese spy. the archbishop of york emerged smiling from his christmas day service in the north yorkshire city to greet well—wishers and tourists outside the minster. the archbishop of york, who will effectively take over as leader of the church of england next month, has called for change in his christmas sermon. stephen cottrell delivered his remarks as the church faces criticism over failures in its handling of various abuse scandals. archbishop of canterbury justin welby resigned last month after he was criticised for not doing enough to stop a prolific abusen enough to stop a prolific abuser. earlier this week, mr cottrell acknowledged that things could have been handled differently after revelations that a priest at the centre of a sexual abuse case was twice reappointed under him while he was serving as bishop of chelmsford. gb news can confirm

that at least 350 migrants have crossed the english channel in small boats so far this christmas day. several boats were seen making the dangerous journey from france this morning, with more expected to follow over the course of today. those who arrived in dover following early hours crossings broke a period of more than a week when no small boats had been spotted. and this comes after gb news exclusively revealed yesterday that thousands of migrants were massing along the northern coast of france, preparing to cross to the uk over the christmas period. swimmers across the nafion period. swimmers across the nation have braved the chilly waters as they celebrated christmas day with a festive plunge. many of those swimmers turned out in support of various charity causes, with others simply enjoying a festive tradition. sea surface temperatures across the country were between 8 and ii c, according to the met office, but plucky bathers, including many dressed as father christmas snowmen and elves, woke up extra early to take the plunge in bournemouth. if you're watching these pictures on television, these pictures on television, the enduring peter pan was also

strongly attended in london's hyde park, with swimmers taking part in the world's oldest annual swimming event. and those are the latest gb news headlines. for now i'm tatiana sanchez. more from me in an hour for the very latest gb news direct to your smartphone, sign up to news alerts by scanning the qr code or go to gbnews.com/alerts. >> today is a special day, even more so than normal. of course, it's christmas, the most important day of the year for christians and toy shops. but also sunset heralded the start of the jewish festival of hanukkah. beloved by candle makers, we jews have a lot of candles to light over the next eight days. because jewish festivals follow the lunar calendar and shift each year in comparison to the gregorian. that makes tonight a rare and special confluence of the two religious holidays. the last time christmas and hanukkah coincided was 2005. it only happens about five times a

century, but this year it's particularly poignant to me as a jew for two reasons. let's start with the nice stuff. it's been a tough year or so for my people. the evil committed on october 7th last year in israel, the over 100 hostages still held in gazan dungeons, including a baby and, closer to home, a tripling of antisemitic incidents over here in the uk, over 300 of which were physical assaults. but through this difficult time, some of our greatest allies who've marched with us, protested with us, supported us, have been christians. jews are not even a half of 1% of the uk's population, so this support is massively appreciated and frankly, needed. and i want to say a big thank you. i'm british, raised in a christian country. i went to christian schools and so to my understanding, you are the best of what jesus was about, standing up for tolerance and compassion and for what's right and fair. defiant in the face of injustice, which also resonates

with a central tenet of judaism, of tikkun olam, that we have a responsibility to repair the world, to make it better. of course, these connections aren't a coincidence. jesus was a jew, the most famous jew after adam sandler. he was a rabbi. his first followers. the first christians were jews like him. they kept kosher and were circumcised and didn't call their mother enough. they also, like jesus, celebrated hanukkah. but hanukkah isn't technically one of the major jewish holidays. it celebrates the maccabean revolt and victory against the greek syrian empire, who temporarily taken over judea a couple of hundred years before jesus was born. hanukkah translates as dedication in hebrew, a language that jesus spoke and refers to the lighting of the menorah in the temple in jerusalem. it's a holiday of defiance of jews fighting against the attempted erasure of our peoplehood, a fighting for the right of self—determination in our indigenous homeland, which is the definition of zionism, by the way, it's a

zionist holiday. it's somewhat fitting, then, given the support of many christians, that hanukkah has increased prominence in the jewish calendar is a direct result of being so close to the biggest christian celebration in the crucible of 19th and 20th century america. christmas and hanukkah both revolved around one another, and as the traditions of one coalesced and formed, so the other responded in kind. an example of two cultures affecting each other but still maintaining their distinctiveness, still putting out positivity that sounds like the world being made better to me. which makes me sad that there are people still acting in jesus's name who are doing the opposite. historically, this is nothing new. great crimes have been carried out against jews in his name over the last two millennia. and on this holiday of defiance and this holiday of celebrating jesus's birth, i won't allow people to use christianity to further attack jews, and worst, to try and erase us. yesterday, bear grylls put out this video to promote

his new book. >> this bit of the story is set in a place in palestine, first century palestine called bethlehem, and this is first person. this part of the story from a young, scared, poor young girl called mariam. and this is part of her story. >> he accompanied it with this post on x. so here's a little history lesson there. here are some facts. firstly, this time 2000 years ago, mary wasn't a middle eastern refugee. she was a jewish woman from judea , a jewish woman from judea, travelling for a census whose husband had forgotten to go on booking.com. her name wasn't mariam. that's an arabization of the name, which is a whole peninsula. over at the time, she would have been called miriam. by would have been called miriam. by the way, bethlehem was a

jewish city. it's also the birthplace of david, and only a thousand years later and more due to colonisation, did it become an arab christian city. in 1950 it was nearly 90% christian. now it's about 10% christian. now it's about 10% christian. what happened to all your fellow christians? bear, in fact, the only growing population of christians in the entire middle east is where, yes, israel and no bear. miriam wasn't palestinian. the region wasn't palestinian. the region was renamed syria palaestina over a hundred years after jesus's death by the roman empir