Dave Smith thinks he can bash Israel because he's a Jew

I kind of feel a bit sorry for Dave Smith. He clearly bit off more that he could chew and now he's on a one man quest to force us to believe he won the debate with Douglas Murray.

Smith has built a big following, but his sharp words about Israel and his past interviews with people who’ve spread hateful antisemitic views are hitting a raw nerve for many Jewish fans. It feels personal, and I want to unpack what’s going on with this story.

Smith was born in Brooklyn and grew up in a Jewish household, raised by his single mom. He’s a grandson of a Holocaust survivor, which makes this whole situation sting even more.

But, as we all know only too well, being Jewish doesn't give you the right to be a vicious antisemite, especially if you have millions of people hanging on to your every word as though it's golden. Self-hating Jews are nothing new, to be honest. He joins a star studded crew of other Jews who wish they weren't Jewish like Dr Gabor Mate, Norman Finkelstein and Bernie Sanders.

They think that their Jewish blood means they get to say, "But I'm Jewish! So of course I can hate Jews and make others hate Jews and that's totally fine." Spoiler: No, it isn't. It's an insidious betrayal of your own, and the blood of SIX MILLION Jews slaughtered in the Holocaust calls out to them from the ground. But back to Dave.

He started out doing stand up comedy at places like the Comedy Cellar and made a name for himself with podcasts. He hosts Part of the Problem, which he started in 2013, and co hosts Legion of Skanks with comedians Luis J. Gomez and Big Jay Oakerson.

You might have seen him on Fox News’ Kennedy, The Greg Gutfeld Show, or CNN’s S.E. Cupp: Unfiltered. He’s also a regular on The Joe Rogan Experience, where his episodes reach 11 million listeners. Smith is part of the Mises Caucus of the Libertarian Party, inspired by thinkers like Ron Paul and Murray Rothbard, and he’s all about opposing government overreach. He even backed Donald Trump in 2024, mostly because Trump promised to free Ross Ulbricht, a promise Trump kept in January 2025.

What’s causing all the upset is Smith’s take on Israel. He’s called its founding “illegitimate and immoral” and said Gaza is like a “concentration camp” because of how restricted things like food and movement are there.

On the Useful Idiots podcast in January 2025, he said, “My beef with Israel has nothing to do with how I feel about Jewish people. I just think you can’t occupy a group of people and then indiscriminately slaughter them.” As if October 7th never happened. Wow.

On Rogan’s show on 10 April 2025, he argued that American taxpayers shouldn’t have to fund Israel if it doesn’t serve the country’s interests. He also went on Flagrant with Andrew Schulz and claimed Israel pushed the U.S. into the Iraq War, adding that Israel isn’t a real democracy. Those words hurt a lot of Jewish fans, and some people on X called them “tropes that hurt us all over again.”

But what really gets me is that his antisemitism is nothing new: In fact, Smith has given a platform to people with hateful antisemitic views. Back in 2017, when he was guest hosting The Gavin McInnes Show on Compound Media, he interviewed neo Nazi Richard Spencer and Christopher Cantwell, who later got the nickname “The Crying Nazi” after the Charlottesville rally.

Smith told Spencer, “When Gavin asked me to guest host, you were the first person I wanted to talk to,” and seemed to agree with Spencer’s idea of a white ethnostate, saying, “I don’t think it’s really fair to say every other group is allowed to have an in group preference, but you’re the worst person in the world for having an in group preference if you happen to be white.”

He ended Cantwell’s interview by saying, “I do enjoy your work. You’re a very talented guy.” When I read that in The New Republic and Humorism, my stomach dropped. How could someone who knows the pain of antisemitism give these guys a voice without pushing back?

More recently, Smith has stood up for people like Candace Owens and Darryl Cooper, both of whom have been called out for spreading antisemitic ideas. Cooper went on Rogan’s show in 2024 and said Winston Churchill was the “chief villain” of World War II, a claim Smith didn’t really challenge when they were on together in April 2025. Smith has also supported Owen Benjamin, a comedian known for awful antisemitic rants, and defended Owens too.

On X, the pain is clear: one person called Smith a “self hating Jew” trying to win over antisemites, while another shared how much it hurt to see him support someone like Lucas Gage, only for Gage to say, “Jews have no right to speak for us.” It’s a gut punch for fans who thought Smith was one of us.

Smith keeps saying this isn’t about hating Jews. On the Lex Fridman Podcast, he talked about how Hamas’s rocket attacks and Israel’s blockade of Gaza are part of a bigger cycle of violence, explaining his views as a libertarian who doesn’t want the U.S. getting involved in foreign conflicts.

A 2021 Medium article by JW Rich pointed out that people accusing Smith of antisemitism often leave out his Jewish background and Holocaust survivor family. Smith has also explained on Part of the Problem that when he talks about “cultural Marxism,” he means identity politics being used by powerful people to stay in control, not some Jewish conspiracy.

Still, for a lot of Jewish fans, that doesn’t ease the hurt. Smith has a huge platform, with millions listening to him on Rogan’s show, and antisemitic incidents are already up 96% in the U.S. in 2023, according to the ADL. And 2024 was even worse, if that's even possible, making many of us wonder whether we ere transported back to 1939 in a horrific time capsule. When he gives airtime to voices that echo the hatred our families have faced, it feels like a betrayal, especially coming from someone who should know better.

If he just stuck to comedy and kept his mouth shut about Israel or Gaza or the Israel-Gaza war, that would have been a blessing.

Here's a note for you, Dave.

No, you don't just get to spew your filth with no consequences. Rhetoric causes action and antisemitism kills.

And Hitler would have gassed you, too. He wouldn't have cared about your big feelings or your profound self-hatred or how you feel sorry for the Palestinians. Sorry.

Actions have consequences, Dave. Words kill. Grow up before yours kill another Jew.

The New Republic, Humorism, Lex Fridman Podcast and Flagrant contributed to this article.