U.S. President George W. Bush hosted leaders of the Jewish community in the White House on Monday. The meeting with the leaders is an annual event Bush hosts prior to hosting a Hanukkah Reception in the White House, the White House press office said. Formerly, Bush met with Rabbis, teachers, and leaders in the higher education community. This year, Bush met with Jewish leaders from around the world, many of whom have experienced religious persecution in their home countries, the press office said. Because of the participants' backgrounds, Bush emphasized the importance of the United States' “great tradition of religious freedom and religious tolerance.” Bush also paid particular interest to “how America must remain engaged in helping people realize the great blessings of religious freedom; and where we find societies in which religious freedom is not allowed to practice,” he said in a statement. In his statement after the meeting, Bush addressed the ongoing “war on terror,” saying that “we [international community] all recognize that we're in an ideological struggle against people who murder the innocent in order to achieve political objectives, and that on the one hand America must do everything to protect ourselves, and are doing so in the long term, the best way to defeat an ideology of hate is with an ideology of hope.” “An ideology of hope is one that says we value your religion, we honor the way you worship. And in our [American] society, you can worship any way you so choose, and that's the vision and dream for societies around the world,” Bush added.
