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White House blasts Fox News host’s claim that ‘you had to be useful’ in death camps
WASHINGTON (JTA) — In an extraordinary swipe at a popular Fox News Channel host, a White House official condemned Greg Gutfeld’s claim that “you had to be useful” to survive Nazi death camps.
“What Fox News allowed to be said on their air yesterday –- and has so far failed to condemn –- is an obscenity,” Andrew Bates, a White House spokesman, said Tuesday in an unsolicited email to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
The comment came as Gutfeld berated a Jewish cohost who was critiquing a Florida Department of Education curriculum that recommends teaching that slaves acquired useful skills. “Did you ever read ‘Man’s Search for Meaning’?” Gutfeld said. “Vic Frankl talks about how you had to survive in a concentration camp by having skills! You had to be useful! Utility! Utility kept you alive!”
The 1946 classic by Viktor Frankl, a Jewish psychiatrist who survived the Holocaust, posits that inmates were likelier to survive if their lives held meaning. The search for meaning in everyday actions was for Frankl — who was not known to have gone by “Vic” — transcendent, not utilitarian.
“In defending a horrid, dangerous, extreme lie that insults the memory of the millions of Americans who suffered from the evil of enslavement, a Fox News host told another horrid, dangerous and extreme lie that insults the memory of the millions of people who suffered from the evils of the Holocaust,” Bates said.
The singling out of a Fox personality was rare for the Biden White House, signaling how fraught culture wars are figuring large in the political landscape less than a year and a half before the presidential election.
Gutfeld, who helms a popular nighttime program, was appearing on a daytime show he cohosts called “The Five,” which routinely includes at least one liberal to debate the issues of the day with another four conservatives. In this case the designated liberal was Jessica Tarlov, a Jewish essayist.
The panel was discussing Vice President Kamala Harris’s condemnation of a new Florida middle school curriculum covering the history of American slavery. In a section entitled “Analyze events that involved or affected Africans from the founding of the nation through Reconstruction,” the curriculum recommends, “Instruction includes how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”
“Just yesterday in the state of Florida they decided middle school students will be taught that enslaved people benefited from slavery,” Harris said last week ahead of a trip to Florida. “They insult us in an attempt to gaslight us and we will not stand for it.”
Harris, typical of many incumbent vice presidents, is taking on a role as political attack dog ahead of the 2024 election. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is running for the Republican nomination, although he is currently distantly trailing former President Donald Trump.
DeSantis, who has come under fire for removing books from school libraries and curricula, called Harris’ claim a lie, which is what prompted “The Five” session, where the panelists discussed whether rHarris had fairly represented the curriculum. Tarlov said she thought Harris had a point.
“And frankly, I’m just fundamentally uncomfortable with this sentence that Blacks benefited at all from this,” Tarlov said. “And, you know, it made me think of someone — obviously, I’m not Black, but I’m Jewish — would someone say about the Holocaust, for instance, that there were some benefits for Jews right while they were hanging out in concentration camps. We learned a strong work ethic, right? Maybe you learned a new skill.”
Gutfeld’s response suggesting that Tarlov’s hypothetical was reasonable, not offensive, angered many.
“Let’s get something straight that the American people understand full well and that is not complicated: there was nothing good about slavery; there was nothing good about the Holocaust. Full stop,” Bates said in his email. “Americans deserve to be brought together, not torn apart with poison. And they deserve the truth and the freedom to learn, not book bans and lies.”
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The post White House blasts Fox News host’s claim that ‘you had to be useful’ in death camps appeared first on Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.