The November 2015 attacks in Paris that killed 130 people were included, for example, even though they were on the front cover of many newspapers around the world and led cable news coverage for hours, if not days. Though some more obscure attacks were included, too — the very next incident listed on the White House's document is an attack in Dinajpur, Bangladesh, that left an Italian priest wounded — many critics argued that the list's focus on Islamic State-inspired attacks meant that its omissions were glaring.

Across the world, the list sparked a relatively muted response. A little of that response was positive. In Egypt, a Muslim-majority nation not included in Trump's recent executive order travel ban, the Foreign Ministry put out what appears to be the only official reaction to the White House's list.

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The statement praised the list, suggesting that the White House's attitude to terrorism was “in line” with Egypt's own. Paraphrasing spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid, the ministry said it “hailed the U.S. Administration stance in this regard, referring to Egypt's repeated calls upon the international community to adopt a comprehensive, coordinated and nonselective strategy to combat terrorism at all levels; security, political, cultural, media and others.”

However, in other parts of the world, there was bewilderment about the list. Haaretz, a liberal Israeli newspaper, noted that attacks that took place in Israel were not included.

“While the list includes dozens of attacks that were carried out in countries all across the world, it doesn't mention even one such attack against Israel, a country where dozens of stabbing, car-ramming and shooting attacks have led to the deaths of Israeli citizens, policemen and soldiers in the last two years,” Amir Tibon, a Washington-based correspondent, wrote. “The administration didn't clarify on Monday how the list was composed, and why it made sense to include widely-covered events like the Paris and San Bernardino attacks but leave out any reference to Israel.”

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In Sweden, there was a backlash to an incident's inclusion in the list. That incident, which took place in Malmo in October 2016, was an arson attack on an Iraqi cultural center in the city that damaged the building but left no one injured. While prosecutors wanted the case to be viewed as a terror offense, the judge later decided that the evidence did not support that. Experts have also cast doubt on a claim of responsibility in the Islamic State-linked magazine al-Naba, noting that the group has claimed responsibility for attacks it had nothing to do with.

In an interview with the Local, Swedish terrorism expert Magnus Ranstorp criticized the White House for including the event. "The easiest way to describe this is classic fake news from Trump's White House," said Ranstorp, a researcher at Sweden's National Defence University. "This is nothing to do with the truth, it’s an influencing operation."

There was also confusion as to why some attacks in Britain were included. Many noted that a December 2015 incident in Leytonstone, East London, was included on the list, even though there were only three victims and the incident was later linked to the perpetrator's mental health issues rather than terrorism or extremism. On Twitter, some users noted that while the attacker shouted slogans about Syria during the attack, it was the response from an angry bystander that went viral: “You ain't no Muslim bruv.”

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Rosie Ayliffe, the British mother of a 21-year-old daughter whose murder was mentioned on the list, hit back personally at her daughter's inclusion. Mia Ayliffe-Chung was killed alongside fellow backpacker Tom Jackson in a knife attack in Queensland, Australia, last August. “My daughter’s death will not be used to further this insane persecution of innocent people,” Ayliffe wrote in an open letter addressed to Trump, the Guardian reported. Ayliffe noted that the suspect in her daughter's murder, French Muslim Smail Ayad, was not believed to have been inspired by religion.

“It’s the police who say it wasn’t a terror attack. That’s good enough for me and it should be good enough for Trump,” Ayliffe wrote.