page_title: White House Hanukkah Party
section_title: 2019
hierarchical_section_title: White House Hanukkah Party / White House Hanukkah Parties hosted by President Donald Trump / 2019
caption_attribution_description: President Donald J. Trump displays his signature on an Executive Order committing his administration to combating the rise of anti-Semitism everywhere and anywhere it appears, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2019, during an afternoon Hanukkah Reception in the East Room of the White House. (Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian)
context_page_description: The White House Hanukkah Party is an annual reception held at the White House and hosted by the U.S. President and First Lady to recognize and celebrate the Jewish festival of Hanukkah. The tradition was established in 2001, during the administration of George W. Bush. The guest list includes hundreds of American Jewish politicians, organization heads, and school and yeshiva deans.
  The reception has become one of a number of ways the president recognizes the holiday, along with a proclamation/message, and participation by the president or a member of his staff in the lighting of the National Menorah on the National Mall. Additionally, in 1996, 2004 and 2009, the United States Postal Service issued Hanukkah themed postage stamps in honor of the holiday.
context_section_description: The 2019 White House Hanukkah party was held on December 11, a week and a half prior to the holiday, in the East Room of the White House. Trump was joined by his wife Melania; daughter Ivanka, son-in-law Jared Kushner, and their three children; Jared's father Charles Kushner and his family; Vice President Mike Pence and his wife Karen; Secretary of the Treasury Steve Mnuchin, Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt, US Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism Elan Carr, former Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt, Israeli Ambassador to the United States Ron Dermer, and Jewish members of Congress. Other guests included Sheldon and Miriam Adelson, Harvard professor of law Alan Dershowitz, and Robert Kraft, owner of the New England Patriots. Trump also asked evangelical Christian leader Robert Jeffress to speak, lauding him as a "tremendous faith leader". 
  As in 2018, both afternoon and evening receptions were held. Entertainment included a Jewish a cappella group and a 20-musician orchestra playing traditional Hanukkah songs.
  During the afternoon reception, Trump signed an executive order that mandates government offices to view Judaism as a race or nationality, not just a religion, and withhold federal funding under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to colleges and universities that allow discrimination against Jewish students. The order is seen as a way to stop Israel boycotts on American college campuses. Trump stated at the reception, "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".
caption: President Trump displays his signature on an executive order committing his administration to combating the rise of anti-Semitism, signed during the afternoon Hanukkah reception, December 11, 2019
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