President Trump hosts White House Hanukkah reception, signs Executive Order Combating anti-Semitism
Edited by: TJVNews.com
President Donald Trump on Wednesday delivered remarks and lit a menorah in honor of the holiday of Hanukkah at the annual White House party. During the event, the President also signed an Executive Order Combating Anti-Semitism.
Israel National News reported that this Executive Order makes clear that Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 applies to anti-Semitic discrimination. When enforcing Title VI, Agencies will consider the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism as well as the contemporary examples provided by the IHRA. There has never been an American President more supportive of the Jewish People than President Donald J. Trump.
The guest list includes hundreds of American Jewish politicians, organization heads, and school and yeshiva deans, as was reported by Israel National News.
President Trump, First Lady Melania Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, Second Lady Karen Pence, Jared Kushner, Assistant to the President and Senior Advisor and Ivanka Trump, Advisor to the President, were in attendance at the event.
INN reported that several members of Congress attended as well, including Sen. James Lankford, (R-OK), Sen. Tim Scott, (R-SC), Rep. Elaine Luria, (D-VA-02), Rep. Doug Collins, (R-GA-09), Rep. Lee Zeldin, (R-NY-01), Rep. David Kustoff, (R-TN-08), Rep. Josh Gottheimer, (D-NJ-05) and Rep. Max Rose, (D-NY-11).
Also participating was Robert Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots.
Trump expressed condolences for those who were murdered in the attack on the kosher market in Jersey City on Tuesday.
“With one heart America weeps for the lives lost. With one voice we vow to crush the monstrous evil of anti-Semitism, whenever and wherever it appears,” he said.
“As President, I will always celebrate and honor the Jewish people, and I will always stand with our treasured friend and ally, the State of Israel,” Trump stressed.
Before signing the Executive Order to combat anti-Semitism on campuses, Trump said, “This is our message to universities: If you want to accept the tremendous amount of federal dollars that you get every year, you must reject anti-Semitism. It’s very simple.”
“My administration will never tolerate the suppression, persecution or silencing of the Jewish people. We’ve also taken a firm stand against BDS. We forcefully condemn this anti-Semitic campaign against the State of Israel and its citizens,” he added.
“Today we thank God for the Jewish people whose love and loyalty, brilliance and bravery, resilience and resolve, spirit and strength bless America and the world.”
“It is game changer,” said Harvard Law School professor emeritus Alan Dershowitz of the Executive Order. He was called on by Trump to speak at the Hanukkah event. “It will go down in history as one of the most important events in the 2,000-year battle against anti-Semitism,” Dershowitz declared.
“It is very interesting to see how the leading heads of various Jewish organizations and activists who are infected with Trump derangement syndrome twist themselves all in a knot to try and explain how a president, who earlier this week they were accusing of trafficking in anti-Semitism, just did the most historic action to defend the Jewish community from anti-Semitism ever in history,” Matt Brooks, president of the Republican Jewish Coalition, told VOA.
“This is a very critically important move made by the president of the United States that will set an environment wherein Jewish students who were targeted with anti-Semitism on university campuses in America will actually have some semblance of protection and recourse,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a major Jewish human rights organization. (INN & VOA)