The Hypocrisy of Holocaust Remembrance Day Honors

The world marked Holocaust Remembrance Day just days ago, on Tuesday, April 14, 2026, on the 81^st anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.  In remembering the greatest example of man’s inhumanity and barbarity to others, politicians and other thought leaders published their support for a more civilized humanity by decrying the evil seeds that gave birth to the Nazi killing machine and its supporters.

Senator Chris Van Hollen of Maryland wrote: “On Yom HaShoah we remember the over 6 million Jews who were murdered by the Nazis in the Holocaust.  Today & everyday, we must stand together against antisemitism & ensure that Jewish communities can live & pray without fear.  Never Again.”

Governor (and would-be President) Gavin Newsom published: “…we hold close the memory of the six million Jews and millions of other innocent men, women, and children who were horrifically murdered in the Holocaust.  Our best antidote to the poison of antisemitism and all forms of hate is to make sure this evil tragedy is never denied — and never forgotten.”

Both men said the right words.  Standing together against antisemitism is not just necessary for the survival of the Jewish people but for the greater society.  But what do they say on the other 364 days of the year?

Van Hollen has been very critical is Israel’s prosecution of the military conflicts that it has been forced to engage since its civilian population was brutally attacked on October 7, 2023.  Using his senatorial position as a bully pulpit, amongst other comments, he has said:

• Israel is “implementing a plan to ethnically cleanse Gaza.”
• Israel’s actions regarding the importation of food into Gaza are an example of “textbook war crimes.”
• After Zohran Mandami flirted with the phrase “Globalize the Intifada,” causing other Democrats to withhold their endorsement of his mayoral candidacy, Van Hollen accused those Democrats of practicing “spineless politics” that “people are sick of.”

Newsom likened Israel to an “apartheid state,” only to attempt to backtrack on that well-publicized remark.  This prompted rabid anti-Israel celebrity, Mark Ruffalo to make the veiled antisemitic remark to Newsom (via a public forum) saying “I don’t know what billionaire got in your ear but it’s not working for you.” Ruffalo, Sen. Bernie Sanders and their like-minded Israel-bashers have doubled-down on the apartheid allegations as well as charging Israel with Genocide.

The facts are that Van Hollen, Newsom, Sanders, Mandami and even an activist like Ruffalo are all playing fast and loose with the facts.  John Spencer, the Executive Director of the Urban Warfare Institute who is a “leading expert” on this subject and an instructor at the U. S. Military Academy at West Point, studies urban warfare.  He is not a politician or an activist.  He has been to Gaza a multitude of times since 10/7.  Under the definition of Genocide, which consists of acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, Spencer concluded that nothing he has seen or studied resembles genocide or a genocidal intent.  Rather, Israeli commanders and soldiers take “real risks to avoid harming civilians.”  Spencer noted that “Israel warns civilians before attacks using text messages, phone calls, leaflets and broadcasts.  It opens safe corridors and pauses operations so civilians can leave combat areas.”  Spencer also refutes Van Hollen’s intentional starvation/war crimes accusation, noting that “Israel has delivered more humanitarian aid to Gaza than any military in history has provided to an enemy population during wartime.”  Spencer concludes that what is happening in Gaza “is not genocide,” and not the textbook definition of a war crime.

Additionally, Apartheid refers to the policy of separation against a racial minority as to where they can live, work, own land, and who can participate in government.  In Israel, Arab citizens can live where they desire and own their own land.  They work anywhere from laborers to chief of staffs in hospitals, serve as lawyers, judges, and in government.  Arab citizens are not forced to exist apart and in an inferior state from their fellow Jewish citizens.  These again, are the facts.

So, the question is are these men, who condemn antisemitism on Holocaust Remembrance Day, antisemites themselves?  First, since facts matter, the facts are devoid of enough evidence of such conclusions.  Second, are they engaging in antisemitic tropes by making baseless allegations against Israel?  Absolutely!  Applying double-standards to Israel not expected of other nations is a form of antisemitism.  Making allegations against the sole Jewish state of the terrible crimes of apartheid, intentional starvation and genocide, when with due diligence, they should/would know that these allegations are baseless is a form of antisemitism.  When they witness Jewish college students beaten and harassed, synagogues picketed and protested, and Jewish pre-schools rammed with an explosive and fire-armed filled vehicle, yet they continue with such baseless hyperbole, this is more evidence of antisemitism.

Practicing antisemitic conduct 364 days a year but decrying it on one day of the year – on Holocaust Remembrance Day – does not purge their willful ignorance and/or their careless negligence of such outbursts.  Jews and others who are outraged by their accusations and behavior need to confront them with these (and many other supporting) facts.  Once confronted, if they persist in such behavior, perhaps then we should revisit the question “are they antisemites?!”