President Donald Trump declared Hanukkah ‘especially special’ this year because of his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital as he entered a White House celebration of the Jewish festival to whoops on Thursday night.
He was cheered by a crowd which included his son-in-law and Middle East peace envoy Jared Kushner as he walked into the East Room, just a day after his declaration which has caused widespread protests in the Middle East.
‘I know for a fact there are a lot of happy people in this room,’ he exulted, adding: ‘Jerusalem!’
In a short speech in front of representatives of America’s Jewish community he said: ‘We wish you a very happy Hanukkah, and I think this one will go down as especially special.’
It was the first of a series of references to his Wednesday announcement in the speech, which was held five days before Hanukkah actually begins.
After the event he tweeted highlighting Bill Clinton and Barack Obama making promises to recognize Jerusalem then doing nothing. ‘I fulfilled my campaign promises – others didn’t!’ he tweeted.
‘Jerusalem!’ Trump was cheered as he entered the East Room and when he started his speech, said ‘there were a lot of very happy people’ before saying ‘Jerusalem’
During the event, Trump made remarks about Israel in wake of his decision to declare Jerusalem as the capital. He said: ‘Right now I’m thinking about what’s going on and the love that’s all over Israel and all about Jerusalem’
Trump also remarked of the holiday, ‘I think this one will go down as especially special’ while speaking on Thursday night
Protests spread: Demonstrations turned violent in Gaza and the occupied territories on Friday, the day after Trump’s victory lap, with Israeli security forces targeted with rocks fired from sling shot at the Al Bureyc refugee camp in Gaza
In flames: At Nabulus on the West bank on FridayPalestinian protesters hid behind burning barricades after targeting Israeli security forces with rocks
Trump tweeted after the event with a video showing Bill Clinton and Barack Obama saying Jerusalem is Israel’s capital – then not officially recognizing it
At the event Trump said: ‘Right now I’m thinking about what’s going on and the love that’s all over Israel and all about Jerusalem.’
There are ‘grateful Jewish congregations’ all across the world, he added.
The president broke with decades of U.S. policy with the Jerusalem announcement, putting the United States at odds with most other countries. The European Union, Germany, Britain, France, the Pope and key Arab allies have denounced the move.
On Friday protests in Jerusalem, the West Bank and Gaza were stepped up and turned violent with Israeli security forces using tear gas and riot gear as they faced stone-throwing and burning barricades.
Trump’s audience for the Hanukkah celebration was not without controversy, with Democratic lawmakers not invited to the event.
None of the 20 Jewish Democrats in Congress were invited, the New York Times reported.
Nita Lowey, a Democratic congresswoman from New York, told the newspaper: ‘It’s deeply unfortunate that the White House Hanukkah Party – a bipartisan event bringing together Jewish and non-Jewish leaders alike to celebrate the Festival of Lights since 2001 – has turned into a partisan affair under this administration.’
The White House said this year’s celebration was ‘personal’ in nature – underscored by the presence of Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump and their three grandchildren, who helped light the first candle on the menorah.
Kusner is supposed to be coming up with a new Middle Eastern peace plan, but one official close to him said he acknowledged to Bloomberg that there would be a ‘cooling-off’ period because of the announcement.
Trump highlighted his grandchildren’s Jewish faith as he said: ‘I am also proud that my beautiful grandchildren – Arabella, Joseph, and Theodore – have joined us tonight right here as we celebrate with all of you the sacred traditions that they observe each year at home.’
And the president received praise from the rabbi leading the religious element of the celebration, Meir Soloveichi.
Trump said ‘he’s so happy’ as he introduced the Orthodox leader, who recited the blessing normally said on the first night of Hanukkah.
Even though that first night is not until next Tuesday, he said it was appropriate to say it this night because it is one to salute ‘joyous tidings.’
And he said the news on Jerusalem qualified as joyous tidings. Jerusalem, he said, ‘lies at the heart and soul of every Jew.’ Now, he said, ‘an American president has courageously declared Jerusalem is the capital.’
To applause he said God ‘has allowed us to live to see this very joyous day.’
Kushner, and children – Arabella, 6, Joseph, 4 and one-year-old Theodore, were all smiles.
During the reception, Ivanka shared a video to her Instagram account showing Arabella and Joseph participating in the ceremony by lighting the first candle on the Menorah while the crowd sang ‘Ma’oz Tzur’.
The first daughter, who converted to Judaism when she married Jared, was photographed earlier in the evening stepping out of her DC area home to head to the White House while sporting a matching Alexander McQueen black and gold sweater and pleated skirt that costs around $3,200.
Family time: A very stylish Ivanka Trump joined the rest of her family including her husband (above right) and children at the White House to celebrate an ‘especially special’ Hanukkah one day after the president declared Jerusalem Israel’s capital and setting off criticism and clashes
The president and first lady Melania Trump were hosting a Hanukkah reception inside the East Room where Ivanka, who converted to Judaism when she married Jared, joined them with her family. Above she is pictured next to Jared and her daughter Arabella, 6
During the reception, Ivanka shared a video to her Instagram account showing Arabella and Joseph participating in the ceremony by lighting the first candle on the Menorah while the crowd sang ‘Ma’oz Tzur’ (above)
Arabella and Joseph held a candle together to light the Menorah as their parents beamed with pride behind them. Vice President Mike Pence and his wife, Karen, were also on hand for the ceremony
The father-of-three took turns with his wife holding their youngest son, Theodore, during the reception. The one-year-old baby appeared to be falling asleep in his father’s arms
Earlier in the evening Ivanka was spotted stepping out of her DC area home dazzling while sporting a matching Alexander McQueen black and gold sweater and pleated skirt that costs around $3,200
She shared this photo with her three children from Thursday night on her Instagram on Friday morning
As she is seemingly always in style like her step-daughter, Melania looked effortlessly chic while sporting a sleeveless black dress for the event
The former model was seemingly chipper after having a busy day where she answered questions from children during a visit to the Children’s National hospital in DC
Inside the White House Thursday, Trump got only applause, cheers and thanks from the crowd, which included Vice President Mike Pence, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Holocaust survivor Louise Lawrence-Israels (right) and Orthodox Rabbi Meir Soloveichik.
Trump was also joined by Rabbi Meir Yaakov Soloveichik (right), during the Hanukkah reception in the East Room of the White House
The crowd included Vice President Mike Pence, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Holocaust survivor Louise Lawrence-Israels and Orthodox Rabbi Meir Soloveichik.
Trump struggled with the pronunciation of Soloveichik’s name. ‘He’s so happy with yesterday, that he doesn’t care if I get it exact,’ the president said.
The president took to Twitter after the event to share several photos and wrote: ‘Tonight, @FLOTUS Melania and I were thrilled to welcome so many wonderful friends to the @WhiteHouse – and wish them all a very #HappyHanukkah’.
He posted a lengthier message to his Instagram account and wrote: ‘Tonight, at the @WhiteHouse we gather to celebrate the story that is told in #Jewish homes across the country – and the #world.
‘A story that began more than 2,000 #years ago, when a tyrant made practicing the Jewish faith punishable by death.
‘He desecrated the Jewish #temple, including the Holy of Holies. But a small band of Jewish patriots rose up, defeated a mighty army, and soon reclaimed their freedom….’
In response to Trump’s announcement, thousands of Palestinian protesters clashed with Israeli forces in east Jerusalem and the West Bank and demonstrators in the Gaza Strip burned U.S. flags and pictures of Trump.
The Old City in east Jerusalem is home to sites holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims, and its status is one of the most explosive issues in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Until Trump’s decision, the U.S. – along with most other countries – has maintained its embassy in Tel Aviv, saying the status of Jerusalem should be resolved between the sides in negotiations.
The leader of the Hamas militant group, which runs Gaza, called for a new armed uprising in a widespread show of anger over the US president’s move. In the West Bank, crowds of protesters set tyres on fire and threw stones at anti-riot troops.
In Bethlehem, troops fired water cannons and tear gas to disperse a crowd in clashes that could cloud the upcoming Christmas celebrations in the town of Jesus’s birth.
Trump struggled with the pronunciation of Soloveichik’s name. ‘He’s so happy with yesterday, that he doesn’t care if I get it exact,’ the president said
In Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian government, protesters set tires on fire, sending a thick plume of black smoke over the city.
Trump’s dramatic break on Wednesday with decades of US policy on Jerusalem counters long-standing international assurances to the Palestinians that the fate of the city will be determined in negotiations.
The Palestinians seek Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, captured by Israel in 1967, as a future capital.
Palestinians closed their schools and shops on Thursday to begin three ‘days of rage’ over Trump’s decision.
Rallies were under way in other West Bank cities, and a demonstration was being held outside the Damascus Gate of Jerusalem’s Old City on Wednesday. There were no serious casualties reported in Thursday’s clashes.
But Friday, the Muslim holy day, could provide an important test when Palestinians gather for weekly mass prayers.
In the Gaza Strip, Hamas’s leader Ismail Haniyeh called on Palestinians to launch a new intifada, or uprising, against Israel on Friday.
‘The American decision is an aggression on our people and a war on our sanctuaries,’ he said, urging supporters ‘to be ready for any orders’.
‘We want the uprising to last and continue to let Trump and the occupation regret this decision,’ he said.
Hamas, a group that seeks Israel’s destruction, killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings and other attacks in the early 2000s. But the group’s capabilities are more limited now.
Gaza, Hamas’s stronghold, is closed by an Israeli blockade, while in the West Bank many of its members have been arrested. Nonetheless, it possesses a large arsenal of rockets capable of striking much of Israel.
Israel, which claims all of Jerusalem as its undivided capital, has welcomed Mr Trump’s decision.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Mr Trump ‘bound himself forever’ to the history of Jerusalem with the move and claimed other states are considering following suit.
‘We are already in contact with other states that will make a similar recognition,’ he said at the foreign ministry on Thursday.
Anger at the US has rippled across the Arab world. Saudi Arabia’s royal court, led by King Salman and his powerful son, condemned the Trump administration’s decision in a rare public rebuke by the US ally.
US embassies across much of the Middle East and parts of Africa warned American citizens of possible protests following Mr Trump’s move.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has suggested that with Mr Trump’s move, the US disqualified itself as mediator between Israelis and Palestinians, a role it has played exclusively in more than two decades of stop-and-go negotiations aimed at setting up a Palestinian state alongside Israel.