White House press secretary Sean Spicer fired back at those who criticized President Trump’s statement on Holocaust Remembrance Day, which omitted any mention of Jews or anti-Semitism.
“The president went out of his way to recognize the Holocaust and the suffering that went through it and the people that were affected by it and the loss of life,” Spicer said in a White House briefing on Monday.
“The idea that you are nitpicking this statement that sought to remember this tragic event that occurred and the people who died in it is just ridiculous,” he continued.
Spicer also said that “by and large the president has been praised” for his statement. However, several promiment Jewish groups voiced their concern over the omission, including the Republican Jewish Coalition.
In a statement, the group said, “The lack of a direct statement about the suffering of the Jewish people during the Holocaust was an unfortunate omission. History unambiguously shows the purpose of the Nazis’ final solution was the extermination of the Jews of Europe. We hope, going forward, [President Trump] conveys those feelings when speaking about the Holocaust.”
The statement, issued by Trump on Jan. 27, says that the U.S. must “remember and honor the victims, survivors, heroes of the Holocaust. It is impossible to fully fathom the depravity and horror inflicted on innocent people by Nazi terror.”
Every past Presidential statement issued on Holocaust Remembrance Day made specific mention of the Jews killed by the Nazis during World War II.