The Republican Jewish Coalition and the Zionist Organization of America have tried really hard to stay on Mr. Trump’s good side.
During the campaign, when Trump supporters unloaded vicious anti-Semitic invectives on journalists, the Republican Jewish Coalition condemned expressions of hate by supporters of all candidates. The Zionist Organization of America latched on to Mr. Trump’s “America First” program and backed his conservative, pro-settler pick to be ambassador to Israel, David M. Friedman.
When the White House released a statement on Friday commemorating International Holocaust Remembrance Day without mentioning Jews, they were pretty quiet, even as the Anti-Defamation League condemned the omission.
But on Sunday, after Hope Hicks, a White House spokeswoman, confirmed that the decision to not mention Jews in the statement was intentional, the two Jewish groups were upset, mildly. Ms. Hicks justified the decision by saying, “Despite what the media reports, we are an incredibly inclusive group and we took into account all of those who suffered.”
The Republican Jewish Coalition, not exactly sputtering with rage, released a statement:
“As supporters of President Trump, we know that he holds in his heart the memory of the six million victims of the Holocaust, and is committed not just to their memory, but ensuring it never happens again.”
“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 Nazi’s final solution was the extermination of the Jews of Europe. We hope, going forward, he conveys those feelings when speaking about the Holocaust.”
Morton A. Klein, the national president of Zionist Organization of America, was a little stronger:
“Especially as a child of Holocaust survivors, I and Z.O.A. are compelled to express our chagrin and deep pain at President Trump, in his Holocaust Remembrance Day message, omitting any mention of anti-Semitism and the six million Jews who were targeted and murdered by the German Nazi regime and others.”
Reince Priebus, the White House chief of staff, did not sound all that apologetic on NBC’s “Meet the Press”: “I mean, everyone’s suffering in the Holocaust, including obviously all of the Jewish people affected, and the miserable genocide that occurred is something that we consider to be extraordinarily sad and something that can never be forgotten,” he said.
Oh, and he mentioned that some members of Mr. Trump’s family — alluding to Ivanka, his daughter, and Jared Kushner, his son-in-law — are Jewish.
This article was published by the NY Times and may be found here.