In the latest skirmish in an ongoing clash among pro-Israel and anti-Israel conservatives, the chairman of the White House Religious Liberty Commission announced he's kicked a Catholic off the panel after she used a hearing to challenge accusations of antisemitism leveled at opponents of Zionism and Israel. However, that Catholic — former Miss California Carrie Prejean Boller — says commission chairman and Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has no authority to terminate her, and that she's "looking forward to next month's meeting." 

On Monday, the commission held a hearing on "Religious Liberty Implications of Anti-Semitism." Temperatures rose when Boller started challenging witnesses, with much of her questioning aimed at scrutinizing their definitions of antisemitism and, specifically, challenging the idea that opposition to the political ideology of Zionism is inherently antisemitic. Zionism is centered on the establishment and maintenance of a nation-state for Jews. Notably, Zionism is opposed by some Jews, including some Jews living in Israel. 

"I'm a Catholic and Catholics do not embrace Zionism," Boller told Yeshiva University President Ari Berman. "Just so you know. So are all Catholics antisemites, according to you?" Berman replied, "If someone says they are an anti-Zionist, they are saying about themselves that they have a double-standard, and hypocrisy, and are taking antisemitic positions." 

Addressing Yitzchok Frankel, a law student who sued the University of California, Boller quoted New York Rabbi Yaakov Shapiro, who said "Zionist ideology falsely claims Israel is the nation-state of Jews everywhere, and that every Jew is…tied to it. This framing is antisemitic at its core…[imposing] collective guilt for actions we neither chose nor control." The exchange with Frankel ended with him asserting that anti-Zionism is antisemitism. 

Addressing Shabbos Kestenbaum, an activist who in 2024 sued Harvard for allegedly failing to protect students from antisemitism, Boller turned to Israel's war on Gaza: "Since we've mentioned Israel a total of 17 times, are you willing to condemn what Israel has done in Gaza?" The testy exchange prompted Patrick to intervene: