Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke assured the Jewish people that President Trump “stands strongly” with them on the first night of Hanukkah.
Steps away from the White House, at the National Hanukkah Menorah lighting ceremony, Zinke spoke of the United States’ fight for religious freedom and touted the commitment of his boss to Israel.
“The president stands strongly with the Jewish people and the great state of Israel,” Zinke told the crowd gathered on the Ellipse Sunday evening. The comment was met with applause and cheers.
“Within this last year, the president, Donald J. Trump, demonstrated this great commitment as he recognized the true and everlasting capital of Israel — Jerusalem,” Zinke added to more applause. “And a promise made is a promise kept.”
[Read more: Trump remembers victims of Pittsburgh synagogue shooting in Hanukkah message]
Zinke was referring to how Trump moved the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.
Hanukkah, the eight-day Jewish Festival of Lights, began Sunday evening. The American Friends of Lubavitch celebrates the start of the Jewish holiday by holding its annual event to light the National Hanukkah Menorah. The event includes the lighting of the 30-foot menorah, as well as songs, men dressed as Maccabees standing as ceremonial guards, and a “Dreidleman” dancing to the Dreidle Song.
After his speech, Zinke joined Rabbi Levi Shemtov, executive vice president of American Friends of Lubavitch, on a crane to help light the giant menorah.
It is tradition for a member of the current administration to make an appearance at the ceremony. Guests in recent years have included Obama White House chief of staff Denis McDonough and former White House chief economic adviser Gary Cohn last year.
