Joel B. Pollak = 1 Oct 2024 – Breitbart

Conservative radio host and author Dennis Prager has published a 15-page letter that he wrote to former colleague Candace Owens, confronting her about her recent antisemitic statements and her crusade against Jews and Israel.

The letter, according to Prager, was made public with Owens’s consent after she failed to respond for several weeks. It is dated September 3, 2024.

In it, Prager debunks many of Owens’s outlandish claims, including medieval blood libels about Jews murdering Christian children, and the idea that Israel exists to protect pedophiles.

Prager concludes:

You may not consciously intend to engender hatred of Jews and Israel. But that doesn’t really matter. The fact is that you are doing so. Whatever your motives, I cannot think of anyone in public life engendering as much suspicion of Jews, Zionism, and Israel as are you.

All of my life, I have tried to teach people that motives rarely matter. Actions matter. Communists killed one hundred million people and enslaved and ruined the lives of more than a billion. Yet, many communists and their supporters had good motives. It turns out that the amount of evil done by people with good motives is far greater than the amount of evil committed by people with evil motives. I suspect that few people wake up in the morning planning to do what they consider evil.

So, I don’t impugn your motives. I don’t even judge them. But, to my shock — and that of every Jew and Christian in my life — our once-adored Candace has done great harm to Jews, whether intentionally or not.

…

Candace, this is one of the most difficult letters I have ever written. After you read this, I am open to dialoguing with you privately or publicly.

Prager was one of many conservatives who embraced and worked with Owens after she emerged as a prominent black conservative voice. She had a podcast on his educational platform, Prager U. He defended her as she became the focus of criticism for controversial statements on a variety of issues.

Owens emerged as a full-throated antisemite in the months since October 7, making a number of false assertions about Jews. This author debated her in May on X (formerly Twitter) about her false claim that Jews were responsible for the Soviet gulag.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.

Dennis Prager’s Letter to Candace Owens

On September 4, 2024, I sent this letter to Candace Owens regarding many comments she has made about Jews, Zionism and Israel. I have known Candace for about as long as she has been in public life. She began her podcasting at PragerU in 2019 and left in 2021. She left on very good terms. To this day, she often speaks of her respect and love for Marissa Streit, CEO of PragerU, and me.

Within hours of receiving my letter, Candace replied:

“I deeply appreciate this e-mail and I will respond to it thoroughly. Please know that I respect you tremendously and it is difficult for me to reconcile how I feel about you and Marissa and the amazing way in which I was treated by you both, and my new feelings and understanding about Zionism. Please give me a bit of time to respond to all of your points. You can always reach out to me and no matter which side of this or any political debate we wind up on, my love and respect for you and Marissa and your treatment of me will never be swayed.”

As it happens, more than two weeks later, Candace had not responded to the letter. Given the number of subjects covered, the letter’s length, and Candace’s busy family life and career, I did not expect her to. I sent it to Candace to give her the chance to respond and because I did not want her to first see it when it went public.

Last week, after not hearing from her, I emailed Candace that I would be publishing the letter. We then spoke on the phone, she briefly explained why she hadn’t been able to respond in writing, and she in no way objected to my making the letter public.

I wish I did not have to write this letter. But Candace has said many things that need to be answered. The primary reasons I have not spoken out sooner are that I needed to become fully acquainted with all or nearly all the things she has said about Jews, Zionism, and Israel, make sure I quoted her accurately, and that I never did so out of context. That was time-consuming work.

I ask anyone who has been influenced by Candace with regard to Jews, Israel, and Zionism to make the effort to read this entire letter. If you care about truth, I believe you have a moral obligation to do so.

Dennis Prager

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