Candace Owens, once a conservative darling, has taken to X and asserted that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “worse than Adolf Hitler,” or at least what she “learned about Hitler in high school.” This is not just a reckless distortion of history; it’s a betrayal of conservative principles.
By equating Netanyahu to a genocidal dictator and framing Israel as the aggressor in the Gaza conflict, Owens ignores the deeper historical context: Palestinian aggression against Israel predates the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack, stretching back decades through a pattern of violence, rejectionism, and terrorism. Owens’ remarks reveal a profound misunderstanding of the Israel-Palestinian conflict’s roots and undermine her credibility as a conservative voice committed to truth, moral clarity, and support for allies like Israel.
The Absurdity of the Netanyahu-Hitler Comparison
Adolf Hitler orchestrated the Holocaust, systematically exterminating six million Jews and millions of others while launching a world war that killed over 70 million. His Nazi regime was defined by racial supremacy, totalitarian control, and industrialized genocide. Benjamin Netanyahu, by contrast, leads Israel, a democratic U.S. ally fighting for its survival against terrorist groups like Hamas, whose charter calls for Israel’s destruction. Comparing Netanyahu’s defensive policies to Hitler’s atrocities is not only hyperbolic but a grotesque trivialization of the Holocaust, diluting the moral weight of one of history’s greatest evils.
Owens’ assertion that “Gaza is a concentration camp where an open genocide is taking place” further exposes her ignorance. Gaza, governed by Hamas since 2007, is not a death camp but a territory where a U.S.-designated terrorist group diverts billions in aid to build tunnels, rockets, and weapons while embedding fighters among civilians. Violence is undeniably ravaging Gaza, with devastating civilian casualties, but the blame lies squarely with Hamas and other terrorist groups, not Israel. These groups deliberately use civilians as human shields, embedding military operations in densely populated areas and diverting aid to fuel their war machine, as documented by the IDF and UN reports.
Israel’s military operations target Hamas’s infrastructure in response to attacks, not civilians en masse. Israel employs measures like pre-strike warnings to minimize civilian deaths, a far cry from Nazi extermination camps. Equating the two is factually baseless and morally indefensible.
Palestine’s Long History of Initiating Conflict
Owens’ narrative casts Israel as the aggressor, ignoring that Palestinian violence against Jews and later Israel began long before the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack. The conflict’s roots trace back to the early 20th century, with Palestinian rejection of Jewish self-determination fueling violence:
- Pre-1948 Violence: Anti-Jewish riots in Palestine, under Ottoman and British rule, erupted as early as the 1920s. The 1929 Hebron massacre saw 67 Jews slaughtered by Arab mobs. The 1936–39 Arab Revolt targeted both Jews and British authorities, rejecting Jewish immigration and the 1937 Peel Commission’s two-state proposal.
- 1947–48 War: When the UN proposed partitioning Palestine into Jewish and Arab states (Resolution 181), Jewish leaders accepted, but Palestinian and Arab leaders rejected it, launching a war to destroy the nascent Jewish state. Arab militias attacked Jewish communities before Israel’s 1948 independence, followed by invasions from Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and others. Israel’s victory was a defensive necessity, not aggression.
- PLO and Terrorism (1960s–1980s): The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), founded in 1964—before Israel controlled Gaza or the West Bank—aimed to “liberate” all of Israel through violence. Its attacks, like the 1972 Munich Olympics massacre (11 Israeli athletes killed) and countless hijackings, set the stage for modern Palestinian terrorism.
- First Intifada (1987–1993): Palestinian uprisings in Gaza and the West Bank involved riots, stabbings, and Molotov cocktails targeting Israeli civilians and soldiers. While sparked by local grievances, the violence rejected peace talks, like the 1991 Madrid Conference.
- Second Intifada (2000–2005): After Yasser Arafat rejected a peace deal at Camp David in 2000—offering 97% of the West Bank and Gaza for a Palestinian state—Palestinian groups launched a wave of suicide bombings, killing over 1,000 Israelis, mostly civilians. Hamas and Fatah’s Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades led the carnage.
- Hamas’s Rise (2007–present): After seizing Gaza in 2007, Hamas fired over 20,000 rockets into Israel by 2023, per Israeli Defense Forces data. Its October 7 attack—killing 1,200, raping, mutilating, and taking 253 hostages—was the culmination of decades of Palestinian aggression, not an isolated event.
By framing Israel’s 2023 response as unprovoked, Owens ignores this history. Hamas’s attack was not the conflict’s origin but a continuation of Palestinian rejection of Israel’s existence, rooted in ideology and violence since before Israel’s founding.
A “Conservative” Embracing Leftist Tropes
Owens’ Hitler comparison aligns with far-left anti-Israel narratives, not conservative values. Conservatives traditionally champion Israel’s right to self-defense, recognizing its strategic role as a democratic ally against terrorism. Her claim that Netanyahu is an
“ethnocentric imperialist monster” dismisses Israel’s diverse population (20% Arab) and its existential threats. Her broader rhetoric, promoting antisemitic conspiracies like Israel orchestrating 9/11 or a “Jewish gang” controlling Hollywood, has drawn condemnation from conservatives like Ben Shapiro, who called her remarks “disgraceful,” and led to her ousting from The Daily Wire.
Her public feud with her former mentor, Dennis Prager, marks a stunning betrayal of the man who helped launch her career, revealing her willingness to discard conservative allies in pursuit of provocation. Prager, a Jewish conservative and PragerU founder, gave Owens a platform in 2019, amplifying her voice through his influential media network. Yet, by 2024, Owens turned on him, refusing to engage after he confronted her antisemitic remarks in a 15-page letter, including her defense of Kanye West’s antisemitic outbursts and her claims about Jewish influence.
The Danger of Owens’ Rhetoric
Earlier today, Owens took to X to boast that her latest YouTube video, provocatively titled “The United States of Israel Strikes Again,” had already garnered 63,000 views, proving she has no problem posting antisemitic rhetoric in exchange for clicks and engagement.
Owens’ statements fuel a growing anti-Israel sentiment within a small but vocal far-right faction, risking the conservative coalition’s unity. Posts on X reflect the backlash, with users calling her comparison “insane” and accusing her of Nazi apologia. Her ignorance of the conflict’s history, Palestinian violence predating 1948, and her embrace of false equivalences undermine the conservative case for Israel as a bulwark against terrorism.
Conservatives must reject Owens’ distortions, reaffirming support for truth and allies like Israel. Her Netanyahu-Hitler comparison is not just absurd; it’s a betrayal of the principles she claims to uphold, trading reason for provocation and history for headlines.
