The David Horowitz Freedom Center condemned conservative political commentator Candace Owens and announced the severing of ties with Owens over her response to the war between Israel and the Hamas terrorist organization and her “ignorant, hateful and morally obtuse remarks about Israel and the Jews.”
In its statement yesterday (Monday), the Freedom Center noted that it helped launch Owens' career and was "so disappointed in what she has become."
The group stated that it had previously condemned Owens for promoting Andrew Tate, who called ISIS "the real Muslims," but had hoped she would "pull out of this spiral."
"The atrocities of October 7, the appearance of ignorant mobs in the U.S. chanting “Hitler was right” and supporting the Hamas terrorists, and Candace’s moral equivalence about these neo-Nazis have changed the stakes. We have decided to issue the present statement because of her recent promotion of Hamas’ genocidal lies," the statement read
"For example, she has falsely compared Israel to the “segregated South.” This is the sort of ignorant ‘Apartheid State' slander that we expect from Black Lives Matter – and the Jew-killers of the Middle East," the center said, referencing Ownes' bizarre claim that Muslims were restricted to living in the Muslim Quarter of the Old City of Jerusalem despite the term 'Muslim Quarter' dating back to at least the 1840s, a century before the founding of the State of Israel.
The statement accused Owens of peddling the lies of the Hamas terrorist organization, the antisemitic Students for Justice in Palestine campus organization, and the left-wing New York Times. It further accused her of following in the footsteps of Squad member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez in criticizing Israel from a position of ignorance in order to achieve greater fame and online engagement.
"It’s not what we at the Freedom Center stand for and it’s not what the patriotic movement we have been helping to build over the last 35 years represents," the Freedom Center stated.
It added: "Instead of focusing on the meaningful activism and defense of American values that brought her to our attention, Candace Owens has become obsessed with her own fame, stirring up drama to compensate for a lack of real achievement. Her comments about Israel and her promotion of people like Andrew Tate are part of a pattern. Candace tackles a subject she knows nothing about, never bothers to learn anything about it, and then rides the backlash by playing the victim to generate more fame and money."
"What a tragic misuse of talents," it said.
The center stated that "this is not just about Israel. It’s about the survival of western civilization which the Islamic jihadis have been working to destroy. And it’s about the sad caricature that Candace has become, and the end of the promise we saw in her."
It further said that Owens' recent behavior has been disappointing because "of course, it’s not just about the Jews. The Jews are the canaries in the mine. The West is next and America above all."
"We are in a civilizational war and Candace is either on the sidelines or actively supporting the crusade against the West," it said.
The Freedom Center's statement concluded: "Goodbye Candace, we will continue to support those who truly strive to raise up the movement for liberty and life, not selfishly tear it apart."
Owens, an employee of the Daily Wire, has sparred with Daily Wire co-founder and editor emiratus Ben Shapiro, who called her response to the Hamas massacre of October 7 and the subsequent war "disgraceful" and "faux sophistication."
Owens in an apparent jab at Shapiro, posted a quote from the Christian Bible on X (formerly Twitter) with the implication that Shapiro, an Orthodox Jew, supports the State of Israel purely out of financial interests.
When Shapiro suggested that she quit the Daily Wire if she felt the company conflicted with her relgious beliefs, she accused him of "acting unprofessional and emotionally unhinged for weeks."
Owens then appeared on the podcast of former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who has himself been accused of spreading antisemitic conspiracy theories.
This is not the first time Owens has faced controversy for defending antisemitic behavior. In 2022, she defended Kanye West after the rapper wrote that he was going "death con 3 on the Jews,” while denying his comments could be antisemitic "because black people are actually Jew."
Owens stated that “if you are an honest person, you did not think this tweet was antisemitic. You did not think that he wrote this tweet because he hates or wants to genocide [sic] the Jewish people]."
She later apologized for her defense of West.