President Isaac Herzog lit the first Hanukkah candle in a Nov. 28 ceremony in the Cave of the Patriarchs, and controversy continues to roil Israel two days after the event. The shrine sits over the burial place of the biblical patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the contested city of Hebron. Sacred to both Muslims and Jews, it is considered one of the most explosive sites in the region.

Herzog’s move was inevitably condemned by the international community, with the Palestinian Authority behind some of the sharpest attacks against the president. But it was also denounced by Knesset members from the Israeli left who supported Herzog’s candidacy for president less than half a year ago.

Many of his critics brought up the massacre of Muslim worshippers at the site by extremist settler Baruch Goldstein in 1994. The incident, which left 29 people dead and another 125 injured, is still considered the worst instance of Jewish terrorism in all of Israel’s history. Herzog, the son of a former chief rabbi, was well aware of the sensitivity of the site but still ignored calls to avoid the ceremony.

He arrived in Hebron with heavy security shortly before the ceremony was scheduled to begin. Leftist demonstrators including Knesset member Mossi Raz of Meretz protested outside the compound. Waiting for Herzog inside the Herodian-era monument were leaders of the settlement movement in the West Bank and top IDF commanders responsible for the area.