We move now to the 90-second statements and the first is from Natasha Asghar.

Thank you so much, Presiding Officer. This Sunday marks the beginning of the Jewish festival of Hanukkah, also known as Chanukah. Hanukkah is an eight-day festival of light and is a hugely joyous occasion for the Jewish community all across the world. Hanukkah involves lighting candles on a special nine-branch candle holder known as the menorah. A candle is lit each day and a lit menorah is placed near a doorway or window to announce the miracle of the festival to the outside world. It is a time for families to come together to eat, sing traditional songs and give gifts to children. It's also customary to play with a dreidel—a four-sided spinning top—stating, 'A great miracle happened there'. The game is often played for coins, nuts and other things. As we await the start of the festival, I would like to celebrate proudly the great contribution that our Jewish communities have made to our country. 

At a time of growing antisemitism across Europe, the themes of freedom and liberty that lie at the heart of the story of Hanukkah are as relevant as ever. Some of the common messages that come out are, 'Never be afraid to stand up for what is right', 'A little light goes a long way', or 'Be like a menorah and shine bright and observe your faith with pride'. We in the Senedd must strongly advocate the right of people to practise their faith without fear of violence and commit ourselves to fight the extremist ideology and prejudice that lies at the heart of antisemitism. So, at this special time of the year, as Jewish families come together to celebrate, let us be inspired by the message of hope Hanukkah brings, confident that hatred will be overcome and that light will always replace darkness.

The Deputy Presiding Officer (David Rees) took the Chair.

There were almost 50,000 knife-enabled crimes recorded in the year ending June 2022. Sadly, one of those victims was my constituent Jake Pickstock, who, on 21 August 2021, and through no fault of his own, found himself with his head and neck slashed open and left fighting for his life at a nightclub in Llandudno. He required 62 stitches and he almost died twice. Jake is a lovely young man of just 25. He has moved on and is now a successful businessman, but he is determined that from that very negative issue, a positive must come out. The young perpetrator himself was only 19 and is now facing 10 and a half years. 

Jake and I have been working together over the past 12 months and we've founded Operation Pickstock to raise awareness of knife crime amongst the younger generation at night-time and throughout our local community. This campaign is seen in pubs and clubs across Llandudno displaying the posters, Llew Jones and Arriva Buses Wales are displaying posters on their buses, Conwy council are arranging for posters to be in taxis, and Transport for Wales are committing to display posters at stations. There's going to be training for pub staff, free metal detector wands, and we've arranged for a knife amnesty bin to be placed at Llandudno.

Lifelong damage in just 40 seconds—now that's a scary thought. Carrying a knife can bring about such tragic consequences. Jake Pickstock and I want to do what we can to make sure that anyone stops and thinks before going out, 'Never carry a knife'. What happened in Llandudno and to Jake could happen to anybody. When you go home to your constituencies, I hope you will remember the Operation Pickstock campaign, and try and spread this message. So many lives, including the families of both the perpetrator and, in particular, Jake Pickstock, the victim, were damaged by the consequences of a split-second decision. If that young man hadn't been carrying a knife, he couldn't have used a knife. Thank you; diolch.

I thank both Members.