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Trump Participates in a Hanukkah Reception, Dec. 16, 2025

December 16, 2025 · The White House · 0:50:07

Embedded from the source channel — never re-uploaded. Watch on YouTube

What happened

President Donald Trump hosted a Hanukkah reception at the White House on the third night of Hanukkah, December 16, 2025 (uploaded December 17). He opened in mourning: “Let me take a moment to send the love and prayers to our entire nation, to the people of Australia, and especially all those affected by the horrific and anti-Semitic terrorist attack… that took place on a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney.”

The President pointed to the Gaza ceasefire as the season’s backdrop — “we did our ceasefire agreement to end the war in Gaza, which everybody said was an impossibility” — and to the hostages: “we got back all of the hostages and all of the dead… nobody thought that would happen.” He then retold the Hanukkah story itself — the single flask of oil that kept the menorah’s light burning for eight days — as the festival’s reminder that a small flame endures.

Why it matters

The reception is the White House’s Hanukkah observance in a year when the holiday arrived alongside both the Gaza ceasefire the President claims as his administration’s work and an antisemitic attack on a sister celebration in Sydney. This chronicle files it on the Elections & Governance hub with every claim attributed to the President.

Scoreboard watch

Scoreboard watch: the President’s statement at this reception that all hostages and all of the dead were recovered under the ceasefire is a dated claim, as stated by the President. Noted for the scoreboard editor; no entry is published from this page.

Sources: The White House, “President Trump Participates in a Hanukkah Reception,” The White House, December 16, 2025 (official upload, embedded above). All characterizations as stated by the President at the reception.