Andrew Lapin
Vice President JD Vance made a statement marking International Holocaust Remembrance Day that failed to mention either Jews or Nazis, igniting further Jewish criticism of the vice president from both sides of the aisle.
The statement was the latest in a series of comments Vance has made that have triggered concern regarding his hesitancy to call out antisemites in the conservative movement.
“Today we remember the millions of lives lost during the Holocaust, the millions of stories of individual bravery and heroism, and one of the enduring lessons of one of the darkest chapters in human history: that while humans create beautiful things and are full of compassion, we’re also capable of unspeakable brutality,” Vance tweeted Tuesday. “And we promise never again to go down the darkest path.”
His post included photos of the vice president and his wife Usha visiting a Holocaust memorial site, meeting representatives and signing a guestbook. Vance visited Dachau last year.
Tablet, the Jewish digital magazine that promotes conservative ideas but has drawn a line of skepticism around the vice president, swiftly criticized Vance’s comments.
“Thank you Mr. Vice President for this unique commemoration of the Holocaust that manages to avoid mentioning Jews or condemning Nazis,” the site’s Twitter account posted. The post was retweeted by Jews across the political spectrum, including pro-Palestinian activist and former Congressional candidate Cameron Kasky, and its sentiments were echoed by many other Jews.
“It really takes effort on the part of Vice President Vance to issue a Holocaust Remembrance Day statement like this without any mention of six million Jews lost, the Jewish people, Nazis, or the issue of antisemitism,” Halie Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, tweeted.
“It’s not easy to leave Jews and Antisemitism out of your statement on International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Yet here we are,” wrote Joel Petlin, superintendent of the heavily Hasidic Kiryas Joel School District and a conservative political commentator.
Other Trump administration officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio as well as the official White House statement, mentioned Jews or antisemitism in their own commemorations of the holiday. Some arms of the government had blasted Democratic Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz the day before the holiday for comparing immigration raids in his state to Anne Frank.
American Jewish groups have anxiously parsed Vance’s approach to antisemitism over the last few months. The vice president has previously failed to condemn a college student’s antisemitic question; remains close with Tucker Carlson; and has said several times that antisemitism is not a problem in the conservative movement. “We have far more important work to do than canceling each other,” he said at a Turning Point USA conference in December.
He has also said that stopping immigration is the best way to combat antisemitism.
