By Marc Rod
A spokesperson for Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) attacked Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington CEO Ron Halber by name, accusing the Jewish liaison of being an “apologist for the Netanyahu government” in response to Halber’s own criticisms of the Maryland senator to reporters earlier Wednesday.
“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 at a JCRC breakfast event in Washington’s Maryland suburbs. “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.”
The Van Hollen spokesperson fired back, accusing Halber of running cover for the Israeli government and failing to represent the range of viewpoints in Maryland’s Jewish community.
“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. 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 spokesperson said in a statement.
