Sarah Hurwitz, a former speechwriter for the Obamas and a prominent author, has ignited fierce debate following her remarks at the November 2025 general assembly of the Jewish Federations of North America. Hurwitz’s speech, which sharply criticized the direction of Holocaust education in the United States and its perceived application to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, has drawn both condemnation and support, exposing deep generational and ideological divides within the American Jewish community and beyond.
Hurwitz argued that Holocaust education, long seen as a bulwark against anti-Semitism, is now “beginning to break down a little bit” in the new media environment. “Since October 7 [2023], but really before then, there have been huge shifts in America on how people think about Jews and Israel, and I think that is especially true of young people,” she told the assembly. “We are now wrestling with a new – I think – generational divide here, and I think that’s particularly true in that social media is now our source of media.”
Her critique centered on the role of platforms like TikTok, which she accused of “just smashing our young people’s brains all day long with video of carnage in Gaza.” Hurwitz contended that this constant exposure to graphic images of suffering in Gaza has created a barrier to productive dialogue: “Anything that we try to say to them, they are hearing it through this wall of carnage, and I sound obscene.” According to Hurwitz, social media is providing younger generations with an unfiltered, global perspective that is at odds with older, more traditional news sources, which she claims are more sympathetic to Israel.
Hurwitz, who previously served on the United States Holocaust Memorial Council, suggested that Holocaust education might be confusing young people about anti-Semitism. She explained, “They learn about big, strong Nazis hurting weak, emaciated Jews and they think, ‘Oh, anti-Semitism is like anti-Black racism, right? Powerful white people against powerless Black people.’ So when on TikTok all day long they see powerful Israelis hurting weak, skinny Palestinians, it’s not surprising that they think, ‘Oh, I know the lesson of the Holocaust is you fight Israel. You fight the big, powerful people hurting the weak people.’”
These remarks have drawn sharp rebuke from journalists and activists. Spencer Ackerman, writing for Forever Wars, described Hurwitz’s comments as “astonishing,” arguing that she “cannot cope with a younger generation of Jews recognizing the obscenity in what her Zionism has convinced her is justifiable.” Ackerman and others accuse Hurwitz of rejecting the universal lesson of the Holocaust—never again for anyone—and instead applying a double standard when it comes to Israel’s actions in Gaza.
Hurwitz’s solution to the perceived problem is controversial in itself: she has advocated keeping young Jews off smartphones until their senior year of high school, a stance that many young people and social media commentators have found both laughable and alarming. Critics argue that shielding youth from information only serves to reinforce a narrow, propagandistic view of the conflict, rather than fostering critical thinking and moral responsibility.
Meanwhile, the reality on the ground in Gaza has become increasingly dire. According to a new study published on November 25, 2025, by the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Germany and the Center for Demographic Studies in Spain, the death toll from Israel’s two-year assault on Gaza likely exceeds 100,000. The researchers, drawing from data provided by the Gaza Ministry of Health, B'Tselem, UN OCHA, UN-IGME, and the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics, estimate the number of Palestinians killed to be between 99,997 and 125,915, with a median estimate of over 112,000. This figure far surpasses the roughly 70,000 deaths cited in most media reports.
Researcher Irena Chen, who co-led the project, told Turkish publication AA, “We will never know the exact number of dead. We are only trying to estimate as accurately as possible what a realistic order of magnitude might be.” The study also found that life expectancy in Gaza fell by 44% in 2023 and 47% in 2024 as a direct result of the war—equivalent to losses of 34.4 and 36.4 years, respectively.
The humanitarian crisis has been compounded by economic devastation. The UN Conference on Trade and Development reported this week that Gaza’s entire population now lives below the poverty line, with a per-capita GDP of just $161—one of the lowest in the world. Unemployment has soared to 80%, and inflation has reached nearly 240%, driven by an Israeli military blockade that has caused widespread famine and prevented basic necessities from reaching residents.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) responded to the new study by calling it “further evidence of genocide” being carried out by the Israeli government. Edward Ahmed Mitchell, CAIR’s deputy executive director, stated, “All those responsible for this mass slaughter must face accountability, starting with Netanyahu and other members of his openly racist, genocidal, and warmongering regime.” CAIR also urged the U.S. government to stop sending taxpayer dollars to Israel and called for international courts to hold Israeli officials accountable for their actions.
The impact of the war on civilians is vividly illustrated in the testimony of Mohammad Al Hawajri, an MSF operating theatre nurse. In a firsthand account, Al Hawajri described how, after Israel ordered about half of Gaza’s population to flee south in October 2023, he and other MSF staff sought refuge in the north, believing it to be safer than their homes. However, as Israeli forces stormed Al-Shifa Hospital and hunger gripped the north, it became clear that nowhere was truly safe. “The city was being demolished and the people who remained were starving,” Al Hawajri recounted. Eventually, he and his colleagues decided to risk fleeing to the south, desperate for any chance of survival.
The political fallout from the ongoing conflict has been felt in the United States as well. The Trump administration, in September 2025, sanctioned Palestinian human rights organizations—including the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, Al Mezan, and Al-Haq—for their work at the International Criminal Court against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant. Critics argue these sanctions are intended to suppress documentation of Israeli human rights abuses and to shield Israeli officials from international accountability.
At the general assembly where Hurwitz spoke, controversy also erupted over the misspelling of Zohran Mamdani’s name—a prominent supporter of the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement and an advocate for Palestinian rights. The incident, which elicited laughter from the audience, went unaddressed by the Jewish Federations of North America, raising concerns about racism and the marginalization of dissenting voices within the organization.
Hurwitz’s rhetoric and the broader response to her remarks underscore the profound shifts taking place in American attitudes toward Israel and the Holocaust. As younger generations gain access to global media and unfiltered images of suffering in Gaza, the old narratives are being challenged, and calls for accountability are growing louder. The question of how to teach the lessons of the Holocaust—and to whom those lessons apply—has never been more urgent or more contested.
As the death toll in Gaza continues to climb and the humanitarian crisis deepens, the debate over memory, morality, and media is shaping not only the future of Jewish identity in America but the world’s response to one of the most devastating conflicts of our time.
