“Ignorance with no bottom”: Yair Golan slammed for calling Holocaust-era Europe ‘Democratic’

In a shocking display of historical ignorance during a Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony, Yair Golan, chairman of the fringe political group “The Democrats,” declared that the Allies defeated Nazism and fascism “not only because of their military strength, but because of their deep commitment to the values of liberty and democracy.” His remarks quickly ignited backlash, with critics calling out the absurdity of glorifying wartime Europe as a bastion of democratic values, during an era marked by mass slaughter, appeasement, and moral collapse.

Yinon Magal, journalist and host of the show The Patriots, responded with justified outrage: “The man hasn’t studied history,” Magal said. “Never mind that he said we’re seeing processes here like in early 1930s Germany, didn’t get the Chief of Staff role, thank God, thank God, right? But what democratic values?”

Magal rightly pointed out the glaring contradiction in Golan’s statement: Europe in the 1930s and 40s was hardly a model of democratic virtue. In fact, the Soviet Union, which played a decisive role in defeating Nazi Germany, was under the iron grip of Joseph Stalin, one of history’s most murderous tyrants. “A large part of the victory came from the Soviets, from Stalin. From Stalin, yes? Stalin the democrat who slaughtered his own people, yes? Tens of millions, or however many it was,” Magal continued. “This is nonsense, this is bottomless ignorance. Go to a history class, learn what you’re talking about, what nonsense and drivel.”

Golan’s statements not only whitewash the complex and often brutal realities of wartime Europe, but they also insult the intelligence of anyone who understands the actual dynamics that led to the defeat of Hitler’s regime. Claiming that the Holocaust was defeated by “democratic values” is a dangerous distortion that erases the cost paid in Soviet blood, the West’s initial indifference, and the cold political calculations that defined that era.

To call pre-war and wartime Europe “democratic” while millions of Jews were being herded into ghettos and gas chambers is not just ignorant, it’s offensive. Yair Golan, who has a long record of inflammatory and tone-deaf comparisons, has once again proven that he is completely unqualified to speak on Jewish history or the lessons of the Holocaust.

Perhaps it’s time Golan took his own advice and signed up for a real history class.