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Nov
26
The president and the first lady invited leaders of America’s Jewish community for a Hanukkah reception at the White House next month - but raised more than a few eyebrows by putting a picture of a Christmas tree on the invitation.
The message reads that the couple “requests the pleasure of your company at a Hanukkah reception,” written beneath an image of a Clydesdale horse hauling a Christmas fir along the snow-dappled drive to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.
And, no, it is not a Hanukkah bush. A close look at the wagon reveals the message “White House Christmas Tree 2008.”
Reaction:
“It’s absolutely bizarre to receive an invite to the White House for Hanukkah in a Christmas format,” said one person who was invited. “They should have consulted with their chief of protocol before sending this out. This belongs right in the ‘Weird But True’ column.”
Jewish community leader Isaac Abraham of Brooklyn had a simpler explanation.
“It’s obvious what’s going on here: The Christmas tree is being taken out of the White House and the menorah is being brought in the back,” he quipped.
When reached for comment, Laura Bush’s spokeswoman, Sally McDonough, said the White House usually prints separate cards, but in the waning days of the presidency, there had been an oversight.
“Mrs. Bush is apologetic,” she said. “It is something that just slipped through the cracks.”
EIGHT YEARS. THERE HAS BEEN A CHANUKAH EVERY ONE OF THOSE EIGHT YEARS. YOU USE ISRAEL TO GET AT EVERY OTHER MIDDLE EAST “ENEMY.”
GET THE DAMN CARD RIGHT!
OMG.
By Jill Miller Zimon at 6:22 pm November 26th, 2008 in George Bush, Holidays, Israel, Jewish, Judaism
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7 Responses to “After 8 years, is it too much for Bush to get a Jew to review cards going to…Jews?”
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The White House flips the Jewish Community the bird….priceless.
It slipped through the crack…smile blink blink.
We need a Jewish President and then force them to have Christmas every year :), sorry its part of the job description celebrate religious holidays outside of your faith.
GW hanaka speech….
I’ll read to ya from the Old testament…cause I know ya don’t enjoy the new one. Sorry ya missed the first coming…hopefully the second coming will last longer….usually does. Ya will know when he comes the second time.
Oh I see I got your beady little eyes open on that, now lets talk about what happen to people with big noise in business, that being what is your business and what aint…course since ya all got your noises in everything seems to make me think it is all your bussiness…and I have to agree and that why we got a hanaka party in the White House in the first place…happy holidays, enjoy the gifelta fish.
They should have consulted with their chief of protocol before sending this out. This belongs right in the ‘Weird But True’ column.
I believe this is the administration that closed a minority affairs office during black history month. I’m not sure of the specifics, but it happened during Bush’s first year. I also believe that Bush did not know the difference between a Sunni and a Shiite. These folks are not culturally aware. So it does not surprise me that eight years later they would do something as dumb as this. This is not an administration that learns.
Sorry Jill I don’t read every comment on every article so I am not sure how I am supposed to respond to this oengus person ( or whether it deserves a response) as I haven’t got the rythmn of their writing…….is it for real or some ultra sarcasm that I in my dotage just don’t get????
The staff at the white house are “paid” to to be aware and not to insult no matter if it cards or putting the Queen behind a podium she couldn’t see over
… after all when the White House makes a mistake we all pay…. one way or another 
What amazes me is the absence of a nativity! As long as you are going to insult your guests why not be thorough?
A new invitation was sent out, with a picture of a menorah, that was gifted to the white house during the Truman administration. Truman took a different approach as to that of Roosevelt who said that he would not pursue a Jewish state with consulting the Arabs first. Truman drew upon the atrocities of world war II and the Balfour declaration.
Truman was still adverse to the idea of a Jewish state despite his support for immigration, mostly out of concern that it would require excessive US resources to defend it. This concern was to surface again and again and influence policy in the months ahead. He wrote to Senator Joseph Ball of Minnesota on November 24, 1945:
“I told the Jews that if they were willing to furnish me with five hundred thousand men to carry on a war with the Arabs, we could do what they are suggesting in the Resolution [favoring a state] - otherwise we will have to negotiate awhile.
It is a very explosive situation we are facing, and naturally I regret it very much, but I don’t think that you, or any of the other Senators, would be inclined to send half a dozen Divisions to Palestine to maintain a Jewish State.
What I am trying to do is to make the whole world safe for the Jews. Therefore, I don’t feel like going to war for Palestine.”
The US supported Israel out of fear and threats that it would become a communist satellite of the soviet union. The Jewish community had and does have wealth and influence, it requests acknowledgement and if denied will go about it covertly. Whatever it takes, however it takes to get what they want.
Was it the British responsibility, was it the US responsibility? Yes if you think that responsibility lies in the hands of those with all the power and wealth? Logic would have said that the negotiations should have been with the Arabs and time shows that still to be true. The question is, is it more possible today then it was then? The psychology is advanced, those against Israel will not negotiate in good faith, they only understand force. If you compromise they see that as weak and use it to attain their ultimate agenda, that being an Arab reinstatement.
Truman said, “Jesus Christ couldn’t please them when he was here on earth, so how can anyone expect that I would have any luck?”
The Morrison-Grady proposal was really a western proposal, it had to be an Arab proposal to work. It had to be an Arab accepted and encouraged proposal. Under what authority could any nation make decisions over another? History says wealth and power, that is a balancing act. The US has been preventing any to ever get bigger or stronger for who?
The US and Britain had one authority and one only and that’s to accept the disenfranchised and the persecuted. They do not and never did have the authority to allocate or support any such allocations of land in other nations. Unless you believe in colonies and expansionism and they did, and its wrong.
Truman had no special love for the Jewish people. On the contrary, many of his off-the-record utterances betrayed frustration with Jews who were pressuring him to change US policy. One letter from a Jewish citizen accused Truman of preferring Fascist and Arab elements to the democracy-loving Jewish people of Palestine. He was sore and referred the letter to his Jewish, and pro-Zionist assistant David Niles, saying “It is drivels [sic] as this that makes anti-Semites. I though maybe you had best answer it because I might tell him what’s good for him.”
I think the second invitation still speaks volumes.
Am I the only one who thinks people are over reacting just a little? Maybe it belongs in a ‘weird but true’ column or something, but I’m not going to lose any sleep over holiday cards.
No, it’s not good - and it can definitely be seen as offensive. I AM Jewish, and I admit it would be offesetting, but all this random screaming that the Bushes are anti-Semetic because of an almost-unreadable sign on a tree in the corner of a large photo seems a little bit premature.
Should things like this ’slip through the cracks’? When you’re the President of the United States, no. But who designed the cards? Do we know the Bushes saw them and approved them?
It’s a cliche question, I know, but if Obama had done this… what would we be saying? Would we be as outraged? I hope so. Besides, the Bushes ARE Christians - if there was a Jewish President, would he (or she!) be expected to have a Christmas tree and a Christmas party? I think not… though hey, I could be wrong (and who would say no to twice the gifts?).
Even then, I still think it’s a lot for a single card.