Obama’s Passover Message Adds Palestinians Into the Story; Omits Hostages

Former President Barack Obama used a Passover message on Monday to work Palestinians into the Jewish holiday, calling for empathy for those suffering in “Israel and Gaza,” and for solidarity with “people of all religions.”

Obama’s equivocation obscured the fact that Palestinian terrorists continue to hold 133 Israeli hostages. He failed, in fact, to mention the hostages, instead saying that people should “remember everyone who is unable to celebrate the holiday with their loved ones.” He also failed to mention the ongoing wave of antisemitism on college campuses and in Democrat-run cities, saying that “people of all religions … deserve to feel safe and secure” wherever they are.

Obama also botched the meaning of the Passover holiday, which is not about “resilience, redemption, and renewal,” but specifically about freedom — the freedom of the Israelite slaves who were liberated in the Exodus from Egypt.

Like “hostages” and “antisemitism,” the word “freedom” did not appear in Obama’s message. He also neglected the fact that for many Jews, the freedom of the hostages, many of whom are slaves, is a major Passover theme this year.

Obama initially supported Israel unequivocally after Hamas started the war with its terror attack on October 7. After pressure from left-wing activists — and before Israel had entered Gaza — he backtracked and began to equivocate.

Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.