Families of US hostages say White House ignored request to attend Hanukkah reception: Report
December 11, 2023 09:45 PM
Families of American hostages asked the White House to attend a reception in honor of Hanukkah but never received invitations, according to a report.
The White House reception on Monday was to celebrate the fifth night of Hanukkah and held over 800 guests, including Holocaust survivors, lawmakers, Jewish leaders, and White House staffers who were descendants of Holocaust survivors.
Families of American Israeli hostages held captive in Gaza asked the White House for an invitation to a Hanukkah celebration.
Joe Biden’s White House did not respond to the request. pic.twitter.com/oT7xd7Jqbn
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) December 11, 2023
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“These are family members who are still desperately trying to bring attention to the eight dual American citizens that are still missing and that are still unaccounted for,” CNN’s M.J. Lee told Jake Tapper Monday night. “Obviously, the formal negotiations to get more hostages out, we saw those break down earlier this month.”
She continued, “There are a lot of questions right now and these families are very desperate for any kind of news or movement that they are seeing from the White House.”
The White House’s reception to mark Hanukkah was led by Rabbi Angela Buchdahl, senior rabbi at Central Synagogue in New York City, and featured remarks by President Joe Biden. Second gentleman Doug Emhoff led the menorah lighting.
During the reception, the president said in his remarks, “Were there no Israel, there wouldn’t be a Jew in the world that would be safe.”
He also added that he is a self-proclaimed “Zionist.”
“I got in trouble, criticized very badly by the southern part of my state — by the southern parts of the country when 35 years ago, I said that you don’t have to be a Jew to be a Zionist and I’m a Zionist,” Biden said at the White House event Monday night.
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President Biden talks about knowing Bibi Netanyahu for 51 years at a holiday Hanukkah reception. Biden says he once wrote to Bibi that he likes him but doesn’t agree “with a damn thing” he has to say.
Quips “it’s about the same today” to laughs/applause in the room. pic.twitter.com/oBpeajFVCC
— Punch Newsletter (@PunchWeekly) December 12, 2023
The president said he has “had his differences with some Israeli leadership” and has known Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for “51 years” — since Biden was a 32-year-old senator.
Biden said he once wrote a message on the top of a photo of the two on Netanyahu’s desk that said, “‘Bibi, I love you, but I don’t agree with a damn thing you have to say’ — it’s about the same today.”