Israel Matzav

Obama hijacks Chanuka, makes it into a 'Palestinian' holiday

The White House threw an afternoon 'Chanuka party' this past week, which featured the Maccabeats and one 'rabbi' Susan Talve, who gave an appalling anti-Israel harangue which apparently went unanswered (and has not, as far as I have seen, been reported at all in the Israeli media). It took the President of the United States less than 90 seconds to start promoting the 'Palestinians' at the event, but it's Talve's speech (which starts at 8:48 in the video below) that is truly appalling.

Let's go to the videotape. More after the video (Hat Tip: Instapundit).



The 'party' was exposed by blogger Daniel Greenfield on Friday.

Obama's Chanukah parties have had issues in the past. But this time it teetered over into full-blown violently offensive territory. Obama's own remarks were boilerplate inoffensive stuff. Israel's President Rivlin, a political hack who desperately sucks up to the media, was equally insipid.

But the White House chose Susan Talve to light the Menorah. Talve is a member of the anti-Israel group T'ruah which is currently promoting assorted "soft BDS" programs.

She's also a Ferguson activist. Her behavior was deeply insulting to the religious Jewish community and made it clear that the White House was determined to hijack even a Chanukah party to promote an anti-Jewish agenda.

So the general conviviality of the Chanukah party was disrupted by a crazed rant from Susan Talve in which she seemed determined to jam as many leftist talking points as possible in her limited time. Instead of talking about Chanukah, Talve blathered on about getting, "guns off our streets" and to "clean up the fires of toxic nuclear waste".

Talve screeched, "I stand here with my fierce family of clergy and black lives matter activists who took to the streets of Ferguson". 

Having celebrated the race riots which destroyed a community, she pivoted to Syrian Muslim migrants. Chanukah is a celebration of the Maccabees defeating a Syrian occupation, but Talve may not even know that. Radical clergy tend to be light on the religion and heavy on the social justice.

Instead she rambled on about how the "gates of this nation would stay open for all immigrants and all refugees".

Then, not satisfied with having made a disgrace of the Chanukah ceremony, Susan Talve declared, "I stand here to light these lights to say no the darkness of Islamophobia and Homophobia and Transphobia."

Talve babbled about insuring "justice for Palestinians" and began gleefully chanting, "Ins'Allah, Ins'Allah". Or "Allah Willing".

Power Line's Paul Mirengoff makes it clear that the Jewish community ought to feel insulted.

Talve’s position on these matters is well known, as is her outspokenness. Team Obama had to know, or strongly suspect, that Talve would deliver remarks like these. Presumably, that’s why it selected her.

If Greenfield’s account is accurate, it makes me wonder whether Obama has much use for Jews other than as cheerleaders for his “social justice” agenda — in other words, left liberalism.

...

I should note, however, that it was Israel’s president, who first said “Ins’Allah,” after Talve talked about justice for the Palestinians. Talve then repeated it several times.

The Israeli president looked towards President Obama as he said this, thus living up to Greenfield’s description of him as a “suck up.”

Israeli Jews live among Arabs, and I have heard them say “Ins’Allah.” I wouldn’t have expected to hear it during a Jewish religious ceremony, but the White House event turned into more of a political event than a religious one.

I have to wonder who the kipot in the audience were and why none of them had anything to say about this. I had never heard a speech like that before east of Berzerkely.

The Blaze's Sharona Schwartz adds:

While singing the blessings for the Hanukkah candles, Talve added a word to the second prayer which states that God “performed miracles for our forefathers in those days, at this time.” She added the Hebrew word which would translate as the feminine “foremothers” following the recitation of that word in the prayer.

In Reform prayers, female equivalents to male words are often added to the liturgy.
Some conservative commentators expressed outrage at the introduction of politics to the reception.

“Yet again, Obama disrespects Jewish people, this time on Hanukkah,” radio personality Mark Levin Saturday posted on Facebook,

Levin linked to an American Thinker article where Thomas Lifson wrote, “Does anyone remember a White House Iftar dinner calling for an end to Islamic persecution of Jews?  I didn’t think so.”

“Her behavior was deeply insulting to the religious Jewish community and made it clear that the White House was determined to hijack even a Chanukah party to promote an anti-Jewish agenda,” Daniel Greenfield wrote in FrontPage Magazine.

I've got to wonder whether anyone there other than Rivlin had a clue what the words of Maoz Tzur (which they sang at the end) mean....

I have been sitting on this story since last night when Glenn Reynolds (Instapundit) posted it on Twitter and I posted it there. I did not (and really still do not but have to reboot my computer anyway) have time to post it here. It seems to have gotten little attention since. I guess the Jewish community (and American Jews in particular) have become so accustomed to being belittled and insulted by the mamzer in the White House that no one even reacts to it anymore.

We Jews have no pride in our God, in ourselves, or in our religion and its traditions. Shame on us.

Labels: American Jews, Barack Hussein Obama, Chanuka, Chanuka party, White House

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 9:01 PM