A former senior White House aide to President Barack Obama ignited a political firestorm after arguing that Holocaust education is backfiring on American youth by leading them to sympathize with Palestinians instead of Israel.

Sarah Hurwitz, who served as Michelle Obama’s head speechwriter before working for Barack Obama during his second term, told a packed audience at a Jewish Federations of North America conference that teaching students about Jews as victims of Nazi brutality has become “confusing” in today’s media environment — because young people now view “weak, emaciated Jews” as analogous to Palestinians under Israeli military power.

“I think, unfortunately, the very smart bet that we made on Holocaust education to serve as anti-Semitism education…may be confusing some of our young people,” Hurwitz said in remarks that were livestreamed and later circulated on social media. “They learn about big, strong Nazis hurting weak, emaciated Jews,” she continued, adding that youth then adopt a moral framework of “powerful white people against powerless Black people.”

In the TikTok age, she argued, videos from Gaza depicting “powerful Israelis hurting weak, skinny Palestinians” are making students think that “the lesson of the Holocaust is you fight Israel.”

Hurwitz’s sweeping warning — including the claim that Holocaust lessons are leaving young Jews unable to “have a sane conversation” about Gaza because their “brains” are flooded by imagery of Palestinian suffering — ricocheted across the internet, drawing millions of views and bipartisan outrage.

In her remarks, Hurwitz blamed TikTok for “smashing our young people’s brains all day long with video of carnage in Gaza,” saying it makes facts impossible to communicate to them.

The controversy is unfolding amid record protests by American college students against Israel’s military campaign, and as polls show younger Americans — including young Jews — rapidly shifting toward supporting Palestinians – including terrorists.

(YWN World Headquarters – NYC)