Trump attacks anti- Semitism
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump sent a powerful message to those who doubt his will to fight anti-Semitism — and to his own supporters in the white nationalist movement — during an annual Holocaust remembrance ceremony at the Capitol on Tuesday.
The president, who was slow to denounce campaign endorsements by racists including David Duke, made an unequivocal statement of support for Israel and pledged to “confront anti-Semitism” in a speech attended by lawmakers and survivors of Hitler’s war on European Jewry.
“We pledge — never again,” said Trump, invoking the phrase adopted by Jewish leaders after World War II. “We must never shrink away about telling the truth about evil in our time. We know that in the end, good will triumphs over evil.”
The president, flanked by Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Ron Dermer, vowed to protect the Jewish people in the United States and abroad and criticized those who deny that the mechanized murder of 6 million Jews ever happened.
“Those who deny the Holocaust are complicit in it,” the president said.
Some Jewish groups have called out the president for what they say is a flirtation with the far right — a tolerance of anti-Semitic sentiment in service of retaining the support of fringe conservatives.
They have repeatedly expressed concern about the White House chief strategist, Stephen Bannon, who was accused by a former wife of making anti-Jewish comments. Several groups also have called for Trump to fire a Bannon deputy, Sebastian Gorka, who has been accused of having links to far-right groups in Europe.
The criticism goes back to the 2016 presidential campaign, when Trump supporters fired anti-Semitic attacks at his opponents and at journalists viewed as hostile to his candidacy.