Trump Declines to Mention Jews in Holocaust Day Statement

In what was perhaps a mere mistake, like the misspelling of UK prime minister Theresa May's name on an official memo, the Trump White House released its International Holocaust Remembrance Day statement without mentioning the people the day is generally meant to remember: Jews.

Trump's memo does state, "We remember and honor the victims, survivors, heroes of the Holocaust," as well as "innocent people" who were targeted by "Nazi terror."

And it is important to remember that various people were targeted for murder by the Nazis—including Roma, LGBTQ people, the disabled, and political dissidents. But the Holocaust is generally understood to refer to Adolf Hitler's systematic annihilation of European Jews, ultimately claiming roughly 6 million of their lives.

Since it was designated by the UN in 2005, both George W. Bush and Barack Obama have released statements on the day, which marks the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, and mentioned either Jews or anti-Semitism. For example, Barack Obama said, "We are all Jews," in his address to the Israeli Embassy in 2016.

Jonathan Greenblatt, director of the Anti-Defamation League, called the move out on Friday on Twitter, deeming it "puzzling and troubling."