Overview
- Hurwitz, a former speechwriter for Barack and Michelle Obama, told the Jewish Federations of North America's General Assembly that the Jewish bet on Holocaust education had backfired as a safeguard against antisemitism.
- Attendees described polite applause in the room before the remarks were circulated widely online.
- Social media users attacked her comments and alleged she had argued it was a mistake to teach Americans that genocide is bad.
- The dispute is unfolding during heated arguments over the Gaza war and how Jewish memory is invoked in public discourse.
- Reporting highlights in-person context and social-media reframing, with no formal retraction or institutional action reported.