The Why Project
← Antisemitism

Candace Owens

Conservative commentator; independent podcaster

Broad consensus4 incidents

Called Mengele’s experiments “bizarre propaganda,” platformed Holocaust deniers, and was condemned by a bipartisan House resolution.

Departure from The Daily Wire

Mar 2024Genuinely contested

What happened

After months of conflict over her rhetoric about Jews and Israel — including a “you cannot serve both God and money” post widely read as a dig at Jewish colleagues, and a contested “Christ is King” standoff — Owens and The Daily Wire parted ways.

Under each definition

Read as coded antisemitism by her own colleagues, defended as sincere faith — genuinely contested on these facts.
IHRAIHRA Working Definition
Contested

Example 2 if “God and money” invokes the Jewish-money trope; contested because it was aimed at colleagues, not Jews as such.

JDAJerusalem Declaration
Contested

Guideline 4 (coded tropes) if intended that way; the JDA is intent-sensitive and the signaling is disputed.

NexusNexus Document
Contested

Turns on whether ‘Christ is King’ and ‘God and money’ were dog-whistles or sincere expression.

3D testSharansky’s 3D Test
N/A

Not framed as criticism of Israel.

Who called it antisemitic

Ben Shapiro called her conduct “disgraceful”; Daily Wire hosts said her statements about Jews and Hitler were incompatible with the company.

The defense

Owens said “Christ is King” was sincere Christian faith being smeared as antisemitic, and that critics had spent decades “spiking the ball on Christianity.”

Outcome

Her roughly three-year Daily Wire tenure ended in March 2024; her independent podcast then grew into one of the most-listened-to in the world.

In their words

Called it antisemitic
I think she’s been absolutely disgraceful, without a doubt. I think that her faux-sophistication on these particular issues has been ridiculous.
Ben ShapiroCo-founder, The Daily WireCNN
Called it antisemitic
If Candace wants to say those things about the Jews, about Hitler, no matter how much she dodges and weaves, she has to leave The Daily Wire.
Andrew KlavanHost, The Daily WireThe Christian Post
The subject
The rumors are true – I am finally free.
Candace OwensOn her departure (the subject)Rolling Stone

Mengele “bizarre propaganda”

Jul 2024Broad consensus

What happened

On a July 2024 podcast episode about Hitler, Owens cast doubt on documented accounts of Josef Mengele’s experiments at Auschwitz, calling them implausible “propaganda,” and relativized the Holocaust against the postwar suffering of Germans.

“The idea that they just cut a human up and then sewed them back together… That just sounds like bizarre propaganda.”

Under each definition

Casting Mengele’s experiments as ‘propaganda’ and relativizing the Holocaust is distortion under all three general definitions; the 3D test doesn’t apply.
IHRAIHRA Working Definition
Antisemitic

Example 4: distorting the documented facts of the Holocaust (the Nazi medical experiments).

JDAJerusalem Declaration
Antisemitic

Guideline 5: minimization and distortion of the Holocaust.

NexusNexus Document
Antisemitic

Holocaust distortion is core antisemitism even under Nexus’s Israel-aware lens.

3D testSharansky’s 3D Test
N/A

Not a criticism of Israel.

Who called it antisemitic

Holocaust scholars and Jewish organizations; the Australian and New Zealand governments cited the remarks when barring her entry.

The defense

Owens called it a “misleading edited clip,” said she had condemned the experiments, and framed the backlash as Zionists trying to ban an episode “detrimental to Zionism.”

Outcome

Australia cancelled her visa (Oct 2024) and New Zealand declined one (Nov 2024), scuttling her speaking tour; the line was later cited in House Resolution 1239.

In their words

Called it antisemitic
From downplaying the impact of the Holocaust with comments about Mengele through to claims that Muslims started slavery, Candace Owens has the capacity to incite discord in almost every direction.
Tony BurkeAustralian Immigration MinisterAP News
Called it antisemitic
This is a victory for truth, for decency, and for the millions of Jewish souls and millions of others whose memory she so shamelessly desecrated.
Dr. Dvir AbramovichChair, Anti-Defamation Commission (Australia)news.com.au
The subject
They have polluted American minds to believe that we must defend Israel out of morality and the evils of the Holocaust.
Candace OwensDefending the episode (the subject)Algemeiner

Platforming deniers & the Wiesel smear

2025Broad consensus

What happened

In 2025 Owens hosted Holocaust-denier E. Michael Jones, who claimed Hollywood “created the Holocaust narrative,” and later alleged that Nobel laureate and Holocaust memoirist Elie Wiesel fabricated his account and was tied to the Epstein–Maxwell network.

“Who is this Elie Wiesel, who allegedly steals this identity… the fictionalized stories in his book Night?”

Under each definition

Platforming denial and casting a survivor’s testimony as fabricated is distortion under all three general definitions; the 3D test is moot.
IHRAIHRA Working Definition
Antisemitic

Example 4: hosting outright Holocaust denial and recasting a survivor’s testimony as fabricated.

JDAJerusalem Declaration
Antisemitic

Guideline 5: denial and gross distortion of the Holocaust.

NexusNexus Document
Antisemitic

Denialist content about Jews and the Holocaust; no Israel carve-out applies.

3D testSharansky’s 3D Test
N/A

Not a criticism of Israel.

Who called it antisemitic

Fact-checkers and the ADL, which catalogued the episodes as Holocaust distortion.

The defense

Owens presented the claims as “investigation,” resting the Wiesel allegation on a long-disputed fringe identity-theft theory that mainstream historians reject.

Outcome

The E. Michael Jones episode was later cited as evidence in House Resolution 1239.

In their words

Analysis
There is no evidence that Wiesel fabricated his account of surviving the Holocaust.
Peter GattusoFact-checker, The DispatchThe Dispatch

“Khazarian” conspiracies & House Resolution 1239

2025–2026Broad consensus

What happened

Into 2026 Owens escalated to overt conspiracism — calling Israelis “Khazarian Turks,” saying the U.S. is run by “satanic pedophiles who work for Israel,” and promoting blood-libel-adjacent claims. A bipartisan House resolution condemned her by name.

“[The U.S. is controlled by] satanic pedophiles who work for Israel.”

Under each definition

Khazar-theory, ‘Israel controls America,’ and blood-libel claims are antisemitic under all four frameworks — the rare Israel-coded case the 3D test also flags.
IHRAIHRA Working Definition
Antisemitic

Example 2 (world-Jewish-control conspiracy) plus the Khazar myth denying Jewish peoplehood and blood-libel claims.

JDAJerusalem Declaration
Antisemitic

Guidelines 1–2: dehumanizing, conspiratorial generalizations about Jews.

NexusNexus Document
Antisemitic

Conspiratorial antisemitism dressed as anti-Zionism; ‘Israel controls the US’ is not protected policy criticism.

3D testSharansky’s 3D Test
Antisemitic

Demonization: the ‘Israel/Jews secretly control America’ conspiracy is a textbook demonizing trope, not criticism of policy.

Who called it antisemitic

The ADL; Reps. Mike Lawler (R-NY) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), who introduced House Resolution 1239.

The defense

Owens casts every accusation of antisemitism as a “Zionist tactic” to silence her; she did not respond to a request for comment on the resolution.

Outcome

House Resolution 1239 (April 2026), a non-binding bipartisan measure, condemned her rhetoric, citing the blood-libel, Mengele, and E. Michael Jones material.

In their words

Called it antisemitic
[Owens] has trafficked in vile conspiracy theories, promoted blood libels, and platformed Holocaust deniers.
Mike LawlerU.S. Representative (R-NY)Gottheimer House office
Called it antisemitic
Hatred is hatred, period. It doesn’t matter whether it comes from the far right or the far left… We cannot be selective in calling out antisemitism.
Josh GottheimerU.S. Representative (D-NJ)Gottheimer House office
Analysis
Antisemitism on the American far right is now overt and out in the open. The data should serve as a flashing warning light.
Dr. Shuki FriedmanDirector-General, Jewish People Policy InstituteJPPI

The verdicts above are how each framework would most likely treat this case — illustrative guidance, not official rulings. The 3D test applies only to Israel-related cases, so it reads “N/A” elsewhere. See the Definition tab for each framework’s full text. Inclusion is documentation, not a finding.