Trump proclaims May annual Jewish American Heritage Month

US President Donald Trump on Monday proclaimed the start of Jewish American Heritage Month, marked annually since 2006 across the United States and preceded each year with an announcement by the president.

In a statement, Trump declared, “Jewish Americans have helped guide the moral character of our Nation.”

Trump spoke of the contribution Jewish people have made to the social welfare of American society.

“Their passion for social justice and showing kindness to strangers is rooted in the beliefs that God created all people in his image and that we all deserve dignity and peace,” Trump’s statement read. “These beliefs have inspired Jewish Americans to build mutual-support societies, hospitals, and educational institutions that have enabled them and their fellow Americans to advance American society.”

The president also spoke of Jewish involvement in rights movements.

“Jewish Americans marched for civil rights in Selma and fought for the freedom of their brethren behind the Iron Curtain. Through their actions, they have made the world a better place,” he said.

Trump praised the American Jewish community for its contribution to politics, arts, science and philanthropy, saying Jews were “strengthening our Nation and making it more prosperous.”

He continued, “The American Jewish community is a shining example of how enshrining freedom of religion and protecting the rights of minorities can strengthen a nation. For this and many other reasons, the American Jewish community is deserving of our respect, recognition, and gratitude.”

Trump quoted Mordecai Noah, who 200 years ago delivered a speech to members of America’s first synagogue, Congregation Shearith Israel, in which he said, “For the first time in eighteen centuries, it may be said that the Jew feels he was born equal, and is entitled to equal protection; he can now breathe freely.”

US-born Noah was a playwright, diplomat and journalist, and the most important Jewish lay leader in New York in the early 19th century.

In contrast to last year’s message, Trump made no mention of his Jewish family members — daughter Ivanka, son-in-law Jared Kushner, or his Jewish grandchildren.

American Jewish Heritage Month was first marked by then-president George W. Bush, who on April 20, 2006, issued the first presidential proclamation on the matter.

The proclamation was preceded that year by a House resolution that “urges the President to issue each year a proclamation calling on State and local governments and the people of the United States to observe an American Jewish History Month with appropriate programs, ceremonies and activities.”

Trump has in the past faced accusations of not taking a stronger stand against the anti-Semitism of some of his supporters.

In February, Jonathan Greenblatt, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League, said that Trump was partially responsible for the increase in anti-Semitic incidents in the US.

“The president’s retweeting of white supremacists and anti-Semitic memes during the campaign and, more recently, sharing tweets from a UK racist group — those are alarming. Those tweets and rhetoric have emboldened and given encouragement to the worst anti-Semites and bigots,” Greenblatt said.

In January 2017, Trump issued a a statement to mark International Holocaust Remembrance Day, in which he pledged to fight the forces of evil, but failed to mention Jews or anti-Semitism.