Chabad have accused Candace Owens of displaying “utter ignorance” by attacking Rabbi Menachem Mendal Schneerson as a Jewish supremacist.
In recent months, the previously pro-Israel American pundit has descended into a vortex of increasingly conspiratorial and bizarre beliefs.
She has insisted that Brigitte Macron, the wife of France’s president, is a man; that Joseph Stalin was secretly Jewish; and that the pro-Israel lobby was behind the murder of JFK.
On Thursday, Owens turned her attention to Rabbi Schneerson, the deceased spiritual leader and rebbe of the Chabad Lubavitch movement.
During a debate hosted on YouTube by Piers Morgan with Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, a former Chabad emissary himself, she claimed that Rabbi Schneerson was a racial supremacist.
"What did Rabbi Schneerson preach?” Owens asked. “Well he preached Jewish supremacism, the hatred of all non-Jews. You don't have to take my word for it because if I said it they would say 'that's antisemitism'.
"You should instead take the word of the two Jewish professors who translated his work. Those authors’ names are Israel Shahak and Norton Mezvinsky and their book was entitled Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel.
"From that book we learned that Shmuley’s mentor, Rabbi Schneerson, describes the difference between a Jew and a non-Jew and he says: 'thus we do not have a case of profound change in which a person is merely on a superior level. The body of a Jewish person is of totally different quality from the body of all nations of the world.' And he talks about the substance of the Jewish body versus the substance of non-Jews…
"You can go through his speeches and you will see that he continually talks about how non-Jews should be a different species… we have to come to terms with the fact that there are Jewish radicals, and it’s incumbent on the Jewish community to call them out.”
The book referenced by Owens – described by its publisher as “highly controversial” – examines the way in which religious extremism has driven the development of the Israeli state.
It was written by Shahak, an Israeli chemist, Holocaust survivor and human rights campaigner, and Mezvinsky, an American Jewish historian and critic of Zionism.
Writing in Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel, the pair criticise the Lubavitcher rebbe as a fervent supporter of Israeli militarism and a source of inspiration for extremist settlers such as Baruch Goldstein, who, in 1994, massacred 29 Palestinians at the Tomb of the Patriarchs.
Responding furiously to Owens’ claims, Chabad spokesman Yaacov Behrman said she had displayed “utter ignorance in her idiotic, ad hominem attack” against Rabbi Schneerson.
"Israel Shahak was a discredited, self-loathing Jew – and the fact that she quotes him as if he’s some respected authority suggests that she has waded into waters that are far too deep for her,” he said.
“Rabbi Schneerson delivered countless hours of talks, and hundreds of his books have been published. Shahak did not translate his work and is not an authority on his teachings, and he has published nothing substantial, if anything at all, regarding Rabbi Schneerson. I’ve never even heard of the second professor [Mezvinsky] she claims translated Rabbi Schneerson’s work.”
Behrman added: “The fact is that Rabbi Schneerson was a legendary force for good who devoted his life to nurturing unity, kindness, and random love among all people. Does she know how many non-Jews sought Rabbi Schneerson out for his wisdom, blessing, and kindness?
“Here’s how Rabbi Schneerson responded to NYC Mayor David Dinkins, who spoke about ‘two sides’: The Rebbe said, ‘[We are] one side, one people, united by the management of New York City.’”
Writing on X, Robert F Kennedy Jr, who recently abandoned his presidential campaign to support Donald Trump, defended the rebbe as “iconic”.
Condemning Owens’ remarks, he wrote: “These words are a sickening and manifestly inaccurate description of a revered holy man who was respected and beloved by people of all faiths.
“Rabbi Schneerson preached a message of unadulterated love, tolerance, respect, and universal justice for all of humanity. My father considered him a spiritual mentor and sought his advice on diverse issues of morality and ethics.
"He once visited the Rebbe at 2 o’clock in the morning! As Americans, we need to distance ourselves from the troubling rise in antisemitism. We need unity in our country, not divisiveness. That's what Rabbi Schneerson stood for.”
