Several major Jewish organizations rallied around Ron Halber, the CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, after a spokesperson for Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) attacked Halber as an “apologist for the Netanyahu government” and unrepresentative of his community.

The Van Hollen spokesperson’s comments came in response to remarks by Halber to reporters in which Halber said that many in the Maryland Jewish community feel “betrayed” by the senator and that he has failed to show empathy for Israel and the Jewish people.

The JCRC’s Board of Directors, in a statement late Thursday, offered Halber, who has led the group for nearly three decades, its full support, and applauded his work.

“Recent personal attacks leveled against [Ron] by Sen. Chris Van Hollen are undignified, unwarranted, and untrue. Ron and his leadership team have our full backing and support,” the board said in a statement. “In a time marked by division and discord, political leaders should model respectful behavior and discourse. We are deeply disappointed that Sen. Van Hollen chose instead to malign Ron and our organization, but we are heartened by the outpouring of support from so many partners and friends. They know what we know: Ron and the JCRC support not only Jewish families, but the millions of people who live in the DMV.”

William Daroff, the CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said he’s known, worked with and respected both Halber and Van Hollen for decades, and that Van Hollen has been his representative for much of that time.

“That is why I am stunned, offended, and frankly angry at Senator Van Hollen’s personal attack on Ron,” Daroff said on X. “Ron is a respected communal leader who has spent decades serving Maryland Jews, advocating for security, and giving voice to a community that is anxious and afraid in this moment of rising hostility.”

He said that Halber’s criticism was “not partisan” and was at its core a call for empathy for Israeli lives, Israel’s security dilemmas and the “vulnerability so many Maryland Jews feel today,” but was “met instead with derision.”

“We can disagree about Israeli policy. We can debate strategy and tone. But labeling American Jews as apologists when they challenge you is not discourse. It is a smear. It cheapens the conversation at a time when Jewish anxiety is real and rising, and when we need leaders who hear us rather than dismiss us,” Daroff said. “Our community deserves respect. We deserve empathy. We deserve partnership grounded in good faith. We will speak up for those expectations.”

The Jewish Federation of Greater Washington, another major D.C.-area Jewish umbrella organization, also offered support for “the vital role Ron Halber and the JCRC of Greater Washington play in advocating for Israel, Jewish safety, belonging, and connection across Greater Washington.”

“Ron has worked tirelessly for years to build a stronger Jewish community and Greater Washington region,” the organization continued. “At a time of extreme divisiveness in our society, our public officials should not be contributing to these divides through personal attacks.”

AIPAC said the statement by Van Hollen’s team was “shameful.”

“Disagreeing with you, Senator, doesn’t make American Jews apologists for a foreign leader,” the group said on X. “Resorting to this tired and toxic trope only reflects the shallowness of the Senator’s arguments.”

The Jewish Federations of North America, the umbrella group that represents hundreds of Jewish communities and groups around the country, said in a statement that it “stand[s] with our esteemed colleague Ron Halber … following the deeply troubling personal attack leveled against him.”

“Ron and [the JCRC of Greater Washington] understand and speak for their community, and their well-documented concerns should be listened to and addressed on the merits,” JFNA continued. “We are grateful to all the public officials in the Greater Washington DC area who are engaged in productive conversations and collaborations with the Jewish community.”

Yehuda Kurtzer, the president of the Shalom Hartman Institute, called the statement “unconscionable” and said Halber deserves an apology from Van Hollen.

“Politicians need to have thicker skins in responding to criticism, especially when it is directed at them by respected representatives of minority communities. That’s part of the job,” Kurtzer said on Facebook. “Van Hollen has the right to cut off contact with the organized Jewish community even though I think that’s a toxic political choice. But he should not respond publicly like this.”

He added that, “to characterize a pro-Israel view as an apologetic for a foreign government is to evoke unfounded suspicion of foreign interference and to cast the[m] as therefore ‘un-American.’ This is dangerous stuff and politicians shouldn’t do it.”

Halber’s counterparts in other parts of the country have also rallied to his defense. “The contempt with which [Sen. Van Hollen] showed for Ron, the DC JCRC, and the Jewish community is unacceptable. He needs to apologize,” Tyler Gregory, the CEO of the Bay Area JCRC, said.

Jeremy Burton, the CEO of the Boston JCRC said that “Labeling American Jews as ‘apologists’ just because you disagree with them & their (our) attachment to the Israeli people is unacceptable” and also called on Van Hollen to apologize.

Amy Spitalnick, who leads the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, lamented both Van Hollen’s attack on Halber as well as New York Jewish figures’ criticisms of Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani.

“We can’t even engage without resorting to ad hominem attacks. A Senator’s office calls a respected Jewish community professional an ‘apologist for Netanyahu.’ Multiple leaders call the Mayor-elect an ‘enemy of the Jewish people,’” Spitalnick said. “Countering antisemitism and hate, protecting democracy, advancing peace and security for Israelis and Palestinians all require us to engage — not disparage and smear — even and especially when we disagree. This is all so dangerous.”

Rabbi Yaakov Menken, executive vice president of the Coalition for Jewish Values, said that “This was a display of bigotry unbecoming a US senator. [Van Hollen] owes the entire community, and especially [Halber], an apology.

Though he did not address the situation or the senator directly, Democratic Maryland Gov. Wes Moore — who addressed a JCRC legislative breakfast the same day as Halber and Van Hollen’s comments and offered praise and thanks to Halber — also reaffirmed his partnership with the D.C. JCRC in an X post on Thursday.

“There’s no higher goal for me than ensuring people feel safe where they live, work, and worship. That’s why our administration is fully committed to combating antisemitism in all its forms, and why I’m proud to announce that my upcoming budget proposal will preserve historic funding for hate crime protection grants,” Moore said, alongside a photograph from his speech in front of a JCRC banner. “Thank you to @JCRCgw for your partnership in this work.”

Eileen Filler-Corn, the Jewish and Democratic former speaker of the Virginia House, said on Facebook that she’s “offended by the personal attack directed at Ronald Halber,” describing him as a “respected leader in our Jewish community” and an “essential” advocate for the community.

“We can and should have healthy debates about the Israeli government and disagreement is part of a vibrant democracy, but labeling American Jews as ‘apologists’ for Netanyahu simply because they express support for the State of Israel is unacceptable, unproductive and entirely out of line,” Filler-Corn said. “Our community is hurting. We are being targeted and antisemitism is surging. At a moment like this, personal attacks on those who advocate for our safety and dignity do nothing but deepen the pain.”

Van Hollen does have some defenders in the Jewish community. Hadar Suskind, the CEO of the left-wing Israel advocacy group New Jewish Narrative, praised Van Hollen’s engagement since the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks and with the war in Gaza.

“Chris has always been there for his Jewish constituents and in support of the people of Israel,” Susskind said on X. “But you know what, like the majority of Marylanders, including Jewish Marylanders, he disagrees with many of the policies and actions of the Netanyahu government. And he is 100% right to do so and to say so.”

“As American Jews who care about Israel we should want all of our elected officials [to] do what Senator Van Hollen is doing, speak the difficult truths that need to be told and support a better future for Israelis and Palestinians,” he continued. “​​The days of demanding that elected officials ‘pick a side’ and show loyalty to ‘one team’ are over.”

Speaking to the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington’s annual Maryland legislative breakfast on Wednesday, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore, touted as a prospective presidential candidate, offered support for Israel and for members of the Jewish community facing antisemitism.

“Today, I want to be loud and clear, that Maryland stands with the Israeli people and we support their right to exist in the region with the same sense of safety and security that we all want,” Moore said, echoing remarks he made at a memorial days after the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, which had been his most recent address to the JCRC.

Pointing to his background as a veteran and a Rhodes scholar who studied the rise of Islamism in the Western Hemisphere, Moore emphasized that he understands clearly the threat of groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, and that Hamas “has not been and will never be a faithful partner in any peace process.”

He said that lasting peace requires “humane leadership” for the Palestinians, as well as by Israel, the United States and any other countries involved in the future of Gaza.

“The safety and the peace and security of all people has got to be something that we not just believe in, but we advocate for,” Moore said. “A very clear understanding that the safety of Palestinians is also the safety of Israelis, and the safety of Israelis is the safety of Palestinians.”

“The message that I had on Oct. 13, 2023, has not changed, because I understand that it’s rooted in an internal sense of who I am,” Moore added, explaining that his “foundation comes from faith and with that, an understanding of our commitment to humanity.”

Moore emphasized that many of his ancestors have been ministers, and also recounted the story of how his great-grandfather and his family, who lived in South Carolina, were forced to leave the United States for Jamaica when they faced threats because his great-grandfather preached a message of equality. 

He said that his patriotic foundation comes from his grandfather, who witnessed that rejection from the United States, but later returned to the U.S. anyway. “It birthed an unbelievable love that he held on to [for] the remainder of his life.”

Moore also expressed a strong commitment to ensuring the safety of the Jewish community in Maryland, saying that he wants to see Maryland be a “shining example” where “hate will absolutely find no oxygen.”

He announced that, in his 2027 budget request to the state legislature, he would be maintaining support for $10 million in funding for Maryland’s Protecting Against Hate Crimes Grant Program, which offers funding for nonprofits and religious organizations.

The program, with Moore’s support, was doubled in the 2026 budget from $5 million in the 2026 budget.

“We are going to make sure that people know that not only do we believe in being a loving community, but that we also believe in consequences for those who don’t,” Moore said. “Because as Dr. [Martin Luther] King said, ‘Laws don’t change the heart, but laws do protect it from the heartless.’ For those in our society that choose to foment hate … I want to be very clear, in the state of Maryland, you will find accountability, and in the state of Maryland, you will find consequences.”

He also made reference to the partnership between Black and Jewish leaders in the Civil Rights Movement, who he said were pursuing that same goal, to ensure that everyone can feel safe and have their voice and vote counted.

“We are going to ensure that every single Marylander, including our Jewish Marylanders, that they know that they are coming up in a state that’s loving and supportive … and knows that people should be able to relish in support of their God without knowing that it’s something that is going to cause them to be a target,” Moore said.

Moore said he’d been inspired by a meeting with Sigal Manzuri, who lost two daughters in the Nova Music Festival massacre on Oct. 7. He said he met Manzuri alongside Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, and has kept in touch with her since.

“She said to me, as we were praying together, ‘Keep searching for love, because in love there is light,’” Moore said. “I think about her words oftentimes because we’ve seen dark times before, in this state and in this country.”

He connected Manzuri’s words to the need to recognize the dark parts in Maryland and U.S. history, while also recognizing that American democracy is “still the greatest experiment in world history. … Nobody here can argue that our history has been neat, that our history has not had hills and valleys, but it’s always been a history that has been worth fighting for, and it’s always been a history where we fought together.”

Moore also generally praised the attendees — leaders in the Jewish community in various capacities — for choosing to “lean in” in “dark, challenging, difficult times.”

“I’m grateful to walk hand in hand with you today, tomorrow and always to make sure that in this moment we fulfill our promise, tikkun olam,” Moore concluded, using the Hebrew phrase for repairing the world.

Moore and his speech were met with an enthusiastic reception from the crowd.

Several members of Maryland’s congressional delegation also addressed the breakfast meeting.

Notably, Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) — who reneged on her pledge as a candidate to support U.S. aid to Israel when she voted earlier this year to suspend some weapons sales to the Jewish state — and Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) — who has supported various measures against Israel, including a bill that critics have described as an effective arms embargo for key systems — received warm welcomes and standing ovations from the JCRC crowd.

Alsobrooks made only a brief mention of Israel during her remarks — praising the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas — focusing otherwise on her efforts to combat antisemitism and other broader policy goals and initiatives.

“I know that I am not alone in welcoming the ceasefire in Gaza, urging, still, the return of the final two hostages,” Alsobrooks said, in comments that were made hours before the body of Thai hostage Sudthisak Rinthalak was identified. “It is my profound prayer as we go into 2026 that a permanent end to the war will be there, and that the beginning of healing that leads to a durable peace and the security that Israelis deserve. Peace and security and self-determination for our Palestinians, brothers and sisters as well. This is a fight that must continue every single day.”

She said that the wounds of Oct. 7 have not yet healed, and have continued to fester in part through the surging antisemitism seen across the country.

Alsobrooks said it is “our profound duty to speak up in this moment against rising antisemitism, at a time when we are seeing the vitriol and the violence against our Jewish brothers and sisters rising in a way that we have never, ever seen before.”

Raskin, speaking about security grants for Jewish institutions, said, “We’ve seen a sequence of racist and antisemitic hate crimes around the country that constitute a direct threat to people’s safety and security in their homes, in synagogues, in churches, at nursery schools and so on. … That’s a tremendously valuable investment of money.”

Reps. Glenn Ivey (D-MD) and April McClain Delaney (D-MD) also spoke on a panel alongside Raskin, also offering support for the security grant program.

Despite having publicly spoken out against Raskin for sponsoring legislation that would severely restrict U.S. aid to Israel and expressed concerns about Alsobrooks’ votes to halt certain arms sales to Israel, JCRC CEO Ron Halber said he believes both remain friends and supporters of Israel.

“Jamie Raskin, I believe, is a friend of the Jewish community and I believe he is a supporter of Israel,” Halber insisted to reporters at the close of the breakfast. “We haven’t been happy with some of his votes, but he does it in a thoughtful style. … He is a progressive Zionist who’s disappointed with the Israeli government, but he’s not disappointed with the entire State of Israel.”

He said he’d had an hourlong conversation with Alsobrooks after her votes on the aid measures, and said, “I think that that vote did not represent a shift in her commitment to Israel’s strategic qualitative edge and support for Israel militarily.”

“I consider Angela Alsobrooks a friend of the Jewish people and a friend of the state of Israel,” he added later.

He pointed blame for her and other Democrats’ votes to block arms shipments toward rhetoric online accusing Israel of genocide and deliberate starvation of Palestinians, adding, “those combined created an enormous groundswell that senators who normally wouldn’t have voted that way, voted that way.”

That stands in stark contrast to Halber’s description of Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) as the most problematic anti-Israel leader in the Senate and who has left the “overwhelming majority” of the Maryland Jewish community feeling “betrayed.”

Ron Halber, the CEO of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, strongly criticized Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-MD) over his recent decision to support legislation that seeks to severely restrict U.S. aid to Israel, casting the congressman’s move as part of a troubling pattern that has sparked concern among pro-Israel activists in his Maryland district.

“Jamie’s signing on that legislation was extremely disappointing,” Halber said in an interview with Jewish Insider on Tuesday, referring to the Block the Bombs Act, a bill led by far-left lawmakers that would place unprecedented new conditions on U.S. weapons transfers to Israel. 

Raskin, who became a co-sponsor of the bill earlier this month, has not issued any statement regarding his decision.

“It unfortunately follows his signing on to other similar letters and a vote against additional arms to Israel last year, which really raised a lot of people’s eyebrows,” Halber, who said he considers Raskin a friend, told JI.

Halber said that he had spoken with Raskin, one of the most prominent progressive Jewish lawmakers in Congress, three times over the last two days, asking him to withdraw his name from the bill and instead issue a statement expressing the concerns about the war in Gaza that had motivated him to back the controversial legislation.

Raskin said he would be considering the request and indicated he was “not opposed to Israel using arms in other theaters” outside of Gaza, according to Halber, who described “a very honest and frank conversation” about the bill, which was introduced in May in response to the worsening humanitarian crisis in the war-torn enclave.

While he acknowledged that Raskin is “pulled by both being a leader of the Progressive Caucus and by his own progressive Zionism,” Halber said that the legislation represents “a bridge too far” for the pro-Israel community. The bill effectively amounts to an arms embargo on Israel, he said, arguing that it “seeks to unilaterally disarm one of our closest allies” as Israel defends itself on multiple fronts.

“I’m hoping that Jamie will take his name off the bill and use a statement to express his concerns,” Halber told JI, noting that the congressman has also fielded messages from several Jewish leaders leaders in his Montgomery County district who have aired objections. “If he doesn’t, we will be disappointed, but that’s his decision to make and he has to live with the ramifications of his decision,” Halber added. “I don’t see how that helps him.”

Natalie Krute, a spokesperson for Raskin, declined multiple requests for comment about his decision to back the bill, and did not immediately respond to JI on Tuesday regarding his recent conversations with Halber.

Halber’s private engagement with Raskin, who joined 32 other lawmakers in supporting the bill, underscores the challenges that mainstream Jewish groups are now facing as even some of the most reliable defenders of Israel in the Democratic Party shift away from reflexively backing the Jewish state, amid growing outrage over the crisis in Gaza.

“It’s difficult when two-thirds of our community is voting for a political party whose base is hostile to Israel,” Halber said of the waning support for Israel among Democrats. “I think a lot of my colleagues are also finding this a very difficult era,” he added.

Halber said he had also recently spoken with Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) after she faced scrutiny from Jewish leaders this month for voting in favor of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ (I-VT) resolutions to block some U.S. arms sales to Israel, despite vowing to oppose such efforts during her Senate campaign last year.

“I’m convinced that her vote was more about sending a message of moral outrage to the Israeli government about the number of children who are malnourished in Gaza,” he said of their discussion, adding he was “a little more forgiving” in assessing her decision because it had coincided with a surge of media coverage about the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Alsobrooks was among 27 Senate Democrats, the majority of the caucus, who voted earlier this month to block shipments of U.S. aid to Israel — marking a dramatic turn against the Jewish state for the party. “While I didn’t like that Democratic senators voted” for the resolutions, “it was understandable, and they knew it wasn’t going to pass,” Halber said on Tuesday. “The question is, if it was going to pass would they have supported it — and I hope not.”

Even as the Block the Bombs bill is also not expected to pass, Halber indicated that he viewed Raskin’s move as a more egregious offense, calling it a “safe way” to register discontent with Israel’s conduct in Gaza that nevertheless “went too far” for his heavily Jewish district. 

“Obviously, he’s trying to maintain a leadership position within the House Progressive Caucus,” Halber said of the congressman’s thinking. But on his home turf, “there are a lot of” constituents who do not support imposing sweeping new conditions on Israel, he told JI.

Still, Halber suggested that his lobbying to convince Raskin to withdraw his name from the bill is part of a broader effort to “push back against” the growing influence of what he called the “radical left,” whose views on Middle East policy he described as a “huge danger” to Israel’s continued security in the region.

“Once the war comes to an end, the whole Jewish community is going to have to re-strategize,” Halber said of the challenges ahead as his organization and others like it reckon with their traditional approach to engaging on such issues. “We have a lot of work to do with young people and with Democrats and independents.”

The war in Gaza “is going to impact Israel’s image for years to come,” Halber predicted. “Hopefully, once the media isn’t covering it every day, we can provide more context about what happened” and help “rebuild” Israel’s reputation among skeptical voters.