How have other prominent conservative Jewish leaders besides Ben Shapiro responded to Candace Owens' statements about Israel?
Executive summary
Prominent conservative Jewish leaders beyond Ben Shapiro have responded to Candace Owens with a mix of public rebukes, private warnings and calls for the GOP to draw a line — even as some allied conservatives have downplayed the danger or declined to act, exposing deep fissures on the right over Israel and antisemitism [1] [2]. Institutional monitors such as the ADL and Jerusalem think tanks have amplified those leaders’ alarm by documenting Owens’s rhetoric and its shift toward explicit anti‑Zionist and antisemitic themes [3] [1].
1. Public rebukes from Jewish political figures: “a new enemy” warning
Israeli and Jewish communal leaders have been direct and harsh: a Likud Knesset member framed Owens and Tucker Carlson as a “new enemy,” telling the Knesset that pro‑Israel conservatives see them as a threat to both America and Israel, an argument that has been repeated in reporting on the phenomenon [2] [4]. That language reflects how some Jewish political figures have elevated the issue from intra‑party debate to a geopolitical concern about the future of conservative support for Israel [4].
2. Prominent Jewish conservatives press the GOP to act
Multiple top Jewish conservatives, beyond Shapiro, have publicly urged Republican leaders to draw clearer boundaries against antisemitic influencers; organizations and think tanks have used data to back those calls, noting a spike in anti‑Israel rhetoric from Owens and others that some Jewish conservatives view as overt antisemitism [1] [5]. The Jewish People Policy Institute’s analysis has been cited by these leaders as a “flashing warning light” about what kind of support Israel can expect from the contemporary right [1].
3. Varied responses from veteran conservative Jewish commentators: rebuke, nuance, private outreach
Figures such as Dennis Prager have taken a more nuanced posture: Prager publicly criticized Owens’s claims, calling out their dangers and engaging Owens privately while arguing that her comments appear directed at Israel and Zionism rather than constituting classical antisemitism—though he nonetheless warned about the risks her rhetoric poses to Jews, Christians and the GOP [6]. That stance illustrates a thread among some Jewish conservatives who condemn Owens’s rhetoric yet stop short of labeling her unequivocally as an antisemite, reflecting both caution and a desire to preserve conservative unity [6].
4. Institutional reactions and media fallout underscore broader consequences
Beyond individual leaders, institutions have acted or assessed the damage: the ADL and watchdog reporting catalog Owens’s statements and drawn conclusions about Holocaust distortion and conspiratorial rhetoric, while Owens’s tensions with outlets such as the Daily Wire over her Israel positions have been widely reported as contributing to splits within conservative media [3] [7]. These reactions have been used by Jewish leaders to argue for concrete distancing — a recommendation that, in practice, some GOP officials have resisted [3] [2].
5. Conservative allies who shrug, and the political cost of silence
Not all influential conservatives have followed Jewish leaders’ urgings: reporting notes that top GOP officials, including then‑Vice President JD Vance, largely dismissed calls from Jewish conservatives to clamp down on antisemitic voices, an inaction that Jewish critics said amplified the problem and signaled a tolerance for the new currents in right‑wing discourse [2] [4]. Meanwhile, some right‑leaning commentators have framed the dispute as intra‑conservative infighting or as Owens “liking” these fights, a characterization that downplays the antisemitism concerns raised by Jewish leaders [8].
6. What the record shows — and what remains unclear
Available reporting shows a pattern: several high‑profile Jewish conservatives and Israeli officials have publicly condemned or warned about Owens’s rhetoric, some have engaged with her privately, and institutions such as JPPI and the ADL have documented a measurable shift in her language [1] [3] [6]. Documentation of every individual Jewish conservative’s response is incomplete in the cited sources; reporting also records countercurrents — GOP leaders who resisted sanctions or distancing — but does not provide a comprehensive roster of private conversations or the full spectrum of apologies or retractions beyond the examples noted [2] [6].