President Donald Trump vowed to eliminate anti-Semitism in his address yesterday at the Capitol, commemorating the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s National Days of Remembrance. President Trump’s address was a part of the museum’s program observing Yom Hashoah – Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel.
“Today, we remember the six million Jewish men, women and children whose lives and dreams were stolen from this earth,” President Trump said. “Today, we mourn, we remember, we pray and we pledge: Never again. As President of the United States, I will always stand with the Jewish people. And I will always stand with our great friend and partner, the state of Israel.”
In 1980, Congress established the Days of Remembrance as the nation’s annual commemoration of the Holocaust. Observances and remembrance activities occur throughout the Week of Remembrance, which runs from the Sunday before Holocaust Remembrance Day through the following Sunday.
Yom Hashoah began at sundown on Sunday and ended at sundown on Monday in Israel. At 10:00 a.m., an air raid siren sounds throughout the country and Israelis observe two minutes of solemn reflection. Almost everyone stops what they are doing, including motorists who stop their cars in the middle of the road, standing beside their vehicles in silence as the siren is sounded.
Reflecting the somber occasion, President Donald Trump sent a recorded message to the World Jewish Congress which included: “On Yom HaShoah, we look back at the darkest chapter of human history. and we pledge: Never again. I say it, never again. The mind cannot fathom the pain, the horror, and the loss… In memory of those who were lost, we renew our commitment and our determination not to disregard the warnings of our own times. We must stamp out prejudice and anti-Semitism everywhere it is found.”
“May we always remember the millions of Jews who were needlessly tortured and murdered during the Holocaust,” said Mat Staver, President of Christians in Defense of Israel and Covenant Journey. “I have been to Yad Vashem, the Holocaust History Museum in Israel, and seen so many precious Jewish lives that were taken at the hands of the brutal Nazi regime. I have heard the stories of survivors and the horrendous torture they endured. It is an honor to stand with Israel and the Jewish people and to combat anti-Semitism wherever it surfaces. Together with our Jewish brothers and sisters, we remember and pledge – never again.”
