Overview
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, testifying Thursday before the Senate Armed Services Committee, stood by calling critics “Pharisees” and called the label “a pretty accurate term.”
- Sen. Jacky Rosen of Nevada, who is Jewish, said the word is antisemitic and told Hegseth that leaders must use respectful language.
- Coverage from the Washington Examiner said Hegseth laughed at the questioning as he cited a Bible verse about a “plank” in one’s eye to defend his choice of words.
- Raw Story highlighted Rosen’s rebuke and her description of “Pharisees” as a historically weaponized term that casts Jewish communities as morally corrupt.
- The word “Pharisees” refers to a Jewish sect from the Second Temple era and in Christian tradition it is used to mean hypocrisy, which many now view as a slur against Jews, and no apology or formal action was reported after the hearing.