The White House allegedly refused a request by the families of hostages being held by Hamas to attend its annual Hanukkah celebration, an inexplicable decision that drew criticism.
According to CNN, the administration didn’t invite the family members to the Monday event which was attended by around 800 people, a snub that comes as President Joe Biden suggested that public opinion could rapidly “shift” against Israel’s military campaign against the terrorists in Gaza.
“Several family members of American citizen hostages kidnapped and missing in Gaza had asked to attend a Hanukkah reception tonight at the White House but reportedly never got invitations,” anchor Jake Tapper reported on Monday’s edition of “The Lead,” going to CNN Senior White House Correspondent MJ Lee who was on location in the nation’s capital.
(Video: CNN)
“Is it too late for the white house to rectify this situation?” Tapper asked.
“I don’t think it’s too late because the reception hasn’t happened yet,” Lee said. “But this is a Hanukkah reception that the White House is hosting tonight to celebrate the fifth night of Hanukkah hosted by the president and the First Lady and what one of the family members of the families that have their family members that are missing in Gaza, still believed to have been abducted by Hamas on October 7, they told me they had reached out to the White House because several of the families were in town this week, had asked for an invitation to this event but that they ultimately did not get invited.”
“The White House did not respond to a request for comment,” she continued. “These are family members that are desperately trying to bring attention to the fact that there are still eight dual American citizens that are still missing, that are still unaccounted for. Obviously the formal negotiations to get more hostages out, we saw those break down earlier this month so there are a lot of questions and the families are very desperate for any kind of news, any kind of movement that they are seeing from the white house as well as the Israeli government on how their family members are going to get out, Jake.”
Tapper then said, “We know that people at the White House watch this show, if they have any questions reach out to us and we’ll involve MJ and we will fix this problem if it can be fixed.
During the reception, the octogenarian Democrat made his cryptic remarks about a potential change in attitudes toward the Jewish democracy.
“We’re committed to providing military assistance to Israel until they get rid of Hamas” the president said, proclaiminf “I’m a Zionist” to applause from the attendees, according to the New York Post.
Biden on Israel’s war with Hamas: “We have to be careful. They have to be careful. The whole world’s public opinion can shift overnight. We can’t let that happen.” pic.twitter.com/3IxgWKRmGH
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) December 12, 2023
“But, but, we have to be careful — they have to be careful. The whole world’s public opinion can shift overnight. We can’t let that happen,” Biden said, not elaborating on what he meant but he has been under intense fire from anti-Semitic elements of the Democrat base to force a ceasefire in Gaza and every vote is critical for him in an election year.
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