An unusual direct attack by Sen. Chris Van Hollen on a local Jewish leader over Israel has elicited strong criticism from Jewish voices — as well as a passionate defense from a Jewish progressive.
“I am stunned, offended, and frankly angry at Senator Van Hollen’s personal attack on Ron,” said William Daroff, chair of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, referring to Ron Halber, CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington.
“Ron is a respected communal leader who has spent decades serving Maryland Jews, advocating for security, and giving voice to a community that is anxious and afraid in this moment of rising hostility.”
Daroff was responding to an accusation by a spokesperson for Van Hollen, a Democratic senator from Maryland who has emerged as one of Israel’s fiercest critics in Congress, that Halber is an “apologist for the Netanyahu government” who is out of step with his constituents.
In an interview, Halber called the accusation “laughable,” pointing to times when he had criticized Netanyahu and the Israeli government despite being a staunch defender of Israel.
The accusation came after Halber, whose role includes fostering relations between D.C.-area Jewish organizations and local lawmakers, took aim during a JCRC event at Van Hollen’s outspoken criticism of the Israeli government over its prosecution of the war in Gaza. Van Hollen was not present at the event, which attracted a range of other local politicians.
On social media, Van Hollen has frequently criticized Israel’s war conduct, including a July post where he wrote that it was “unconscionable that American taxpayers are paying for these killings.” He has also taken action offline: In September, he introduced a resolution in the Senate calling on President Donald Trump to recognize Palestinian statehood, and he has supported legislation to block U.S. sales of arms to Israel.
“Sen. Van Hollen, I think, has dramatically lost his way with support for Israel. He’s become the leading senator agitating against Israel in the United States Senate,” Halber told reporters in response to a question, according to Jewish Insider, which first reported the exchange of fire. “His social media is filled with a lack of empathy for Jewish suffering. It’s filled with a lack of empathy for Israel’s strategic position. It’s almost like [he] cannot wait for the next opportunity to jump down Israel’s throat.”
A Van Hollen spokesperson punched back in a statement criticizing Halber.
“The Senator often speaks with Marylanders who hold varying perspectives here and has met on many occasions with families of hostages and victims of the heinous Hamas attacks of October 7th,” the spokesperson said in a statement issued to Jewish Insider on Wednesday afternoon. “Instead of representing the diversity of views that, in the Senator’s experience, are held by the Jewish community of Maryland, Ron Halber has become an apologist for the Netanyahu government.”
The response was unusual, reflecting the shifting norms that have characterized Israel politics during the war in Gaza, as public sentiment, particularly but not only among Democrats, has turned against Israel. While lawmakers have previously criticized Jewish organizations publicly, including when former Florida Republican Rep. Matt Gaetz called the Anti-Defamation League “racist” in 2021 and when Vermont progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders accused AIPAC of being an “oligarchy by billionaires” in October, lambasting individual Jewish leaders by name has remained largely off-limits.
To Daroff and others, the response was both derisive and dangerous.
“We can disagree about Israeli policy. We can debate strategy and tone,” Daroff said in his statement on X. “But labeling American Jews as apologists when they challenge you is not discourse. It is a smear. It cheapens the conversation at a time when Jewish anxiety is real and rising, and when we need leaders who hear us rather than dismiss us.”
Yehuda Kurtzer, co-president of the Shalom Hartman Institute, called the comment by Van Hollen’s spokesperson “unconscionable” in a post on Facebook, adding that he believed “politicians need to have thicker skins” when they are criticized.
“To characterize a pro-Israel view as an apologetic for a foreign government is to evoke unfounded suspicion of foreign interference and to cast the as therefore ‘un-American.’ This is dangerous stuff and politicians shouldn’t do it,” Kurtzer wrote. “Ronald Halber deserves an apology.”
When reached for comment by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Van Hollen’s spokesperson pointed to the statement given to Jewish Insider.
Halber said in an interview that he believed the spokesperson was accurately “relaying Van Hollen’s views.” He also said that while he had been surprised by the statement, he was “comfortable” with its content and fallout.
“It’s not every day a senior United States senator calls me out by name, but it’s OK, I mean, I’m fine,” said Halber. “The senator has a right to do so, and I’m a grown up. I’ve accepted responsibility as the CEO to be … the face of this organization.”
Halber pushed back on Van Hollen’s allegation that the JCRC of Greater Washington does not represent the “diversity of views” of the local Jewish community, saying he believed the mainstream Jewish community in his area “do not like the senator’s viewpoints on Israel, and so it was my obligation to state that, and I stand by it.”
“On this one issue, on Israel, my job is to call balls and strikes,” Halber said. “My job is to be unflinching, unapologetic and a passionate advocate for the unifying values, priorities, and in this case, the senator has gone outside of what I think is mainstream Jewish opinion.”
He noted that, contrary to what Van Hollen’s spokesperson said, he has been critical of Netanyahu in the past. “The JCRC has staked out positions on the issue, and I’ve done many, many interviews representing those values, and I have consistently been critical of the prime minister and his behavior which has played, I believe, the leading role in undermining the bipartisan relationship between the United States and Israel,” Halber said.
Van Hollen’s comments did not alarm all Jewish voices. Hadar Susskind, the president and CEO of New Jewish Narrative, a progressive Zionist organization, defended Van Hollen in a series of posts on X where he said the senator had “always been there for his Jewish constituents and in support of the people of Israel,” if not the state itself.
“I think the idea that he is somehow either out of step with Marylanders overall or the Maryland Jewish community is just factually not true, and I think people who think that live in this little old bubble where they think that the job of elected officials is just to say, ‘I stand with Israel,’” Susskind, who is based in Maryland, told (JEWISH REVIEW).
Susskind also pointed to what he suggested was a double standard on Halber’s part. “Ron certainly sometimes criticizes things that the government does, which — good for him, yet he somehow thinks that Sen. Van Hollen, who again, is doing his job, taking these positions, should not be doing so, and I think he’s mistaken in that,” he said.
And Susskind said he shared Van Hollen’s critique that the JCRC of Greater Washington does not represent the entirety of the local Jewish community.
“There is no one organization that represents all Maryland Jews,” he said. “The problem there is their claiming of that mantle, and claiming that if somebody like Sen. Van Hollen disagrees with them, that they then disagree with the Jewish community. And that is not true.”
The episode has ignited support for the JCRC, with Maryland Gov. Wes Moore giving the organization a shoutout on social media on Thursday without referring the dustup between Halber and Van Hollen.
“There’s no higher goal for me than ensuring people feel safe where they live, work, and worship. That’s why our administration is fully committed to combating antisemitism in all its forms, and why I’m proud to announce that my upcoming budget proposal will preserve historic funding for hate crime protection grants,” Moore posted. “Thank you to @JCRCgw for your partnership in this work.”
