Jacob Smith, the pro-Israel Christian commentator known online as The Moderate Case, has apologized after a post invoking the Holocaust drew sharp criticism from Jewish and pro-Israel voices, many of whom had long considered him an ally.
The post, written in reply to Laura Loomer, read: "Hey Jewish Zionists, Where was your God during the Holocaust?"
Smith was responding to a post Loomer published after Tuesday's midterm elections, in which she mocked Christian nationalists over the Republican defeat. "Where was your God last night? That's what I thought," Loomer wrote, adding that Christian nationalists "can shout Christ is King all they want and disparage Jews and Israel," but that "godless communists and Sharia adherent Muslims" were now in control of America.
The backlash was especially pointed because of Smith's record. The host of The Moderate Case podcast, he was named by The Jerusalem Post as one of its 10 leading Christian Zionists for his work fighting antisemitism and building Jewish-Christian friendship. Since October 7, he has built a following by confronting antisemitism and Holocaust denial online, often stressing that one does not need to be Jewish to stand against antisemitism.
Yemeni-Norwegian commentator Luai Ahmed wrote that weaponizing the Holocaust against Jews, especially at a time when Holocaust inversion has become normalized, was beneath him. Pro-Israel activist Zina Rakhamilova wrote that while Loomer's comment was foolish, he did not need to stoop to her level. She added that many Jews and Zionists would have defended him, and that instead he had offended many people who respect him and his work.
In his apology, posted early Friday, Smith said he had deliberately used the Holocaust as a rhetorical parallel to highlight what he saw as the absurdity of using a political defeat to mock someone's faith, and that he had been frustrated by Loomer's framing. He acknowledged that the post was inappropriate, hurtful and unnecessary, and that it dragged Jewish history, and people who had nothing to do with his dispute with Loomer, into the argument.
He called it a failure of judgment driven by the pressure to constantly respond on social media, and said he needs to get better at not engaging. He said he did not expect forgiveness, only understanding that he had not intended to mock the Holocaust or attack Jews.
