A Democratic lawmaker on Friday renounced recent efforts by the “far left” to dissuade Vice President Kamala Harris from choosing Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as her running mate, asserting that the narrative is based in “antisemitism.”
In the days after President Biden dropped his 2024 bid and endorsed Harris to replace him at the top of the ticket, an anti-Shapiro website called “No Genocide Josh” launched, calling on Harris not to choose him as her VP.
The anti-Shapiro website says Shapiro “has opposed a ceasefire in Palestine.”
Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) blasted the anti-Shapiro campaign in statement on X.
“Every potential nominee for Vice President is pro-Israel. Yet only one, Josh Shapiro, has been singled out by a far-left smear campaign calling him ‘Genocide Josh.’ The reason he is treated differently from the rest? Antisemitism. The antisemitic far left must never be given veto power over the selection of a presidential running mate,” Torres said.
The Pennsylvania governor, who is Jewish, has been reported as one of several veep candidates on Harris’ radar, given his outspoken support for her campaign in a critical battleground state.
During his 2022 gubernatorial bid, Shapiro won endorsements from the Jewish Democratic Council of America as well as several labor groups in the Keystone State — both of whom represent voting blocs that helped Biden to victory in the 2020 election.
Second gentleman Doug Emhoff appeared on a Wednesday Zoom call with the Jewish Democratic Council of America and Jewish Women for Kamala to affirm Harris would back Israel as the commander in chief, CNN reported.
“I’m going to keep living openly like a Jew and maybe there will be a mezuzah on the White House, like there is on the vice president’s residence,” Emhoff said hopefully.
Some columnists are warning that one of the only ways Harris can “screw” up Democratic unity is to pick Shapiro as her No. 2.
“Unfortunately, Shapiro also stands out among the current field of potential running mates as being egregiously bad on Palestine,” a writer for The New Republic wrote. “It’s not just that he, like many Democrats, is an outspoken supporter of Israel — though he certainly is, having championed Israel’s war against Hamas consistently and without any apparent concern for Palestinian civilians.”
“Shapiro has, moreover, done far more than most Democrats to attack pro-Palestine antiwar demonstrators, in ways that call into question his basic commitment to First Amendment rights,” the writer added.
Other columnists have also weighed in.
Pamela Paul, writing for the New York Times, said, “the unfortunate rise of antisemitism in this country (see: Shapiro) makes a Jewish presidential candidate a hard sell right now.”
New York Times columnist Michelle Goldberg also wrote that “until about five minutes ago, everyone worried that the Democratic convention was going to be thrown into chaos over Gaza. A lot of those tensions have died down, in part because voters angry at Biden’s Israel policy are more comfortable with Harris, who is reported to be more sympathetic to the Palestinians.”
“Choosing Shapiro, who is ardently pro-Israel and outspoken in his condemnation of the recent campus protests, would rip those wounds open again,” she added.
Harris also ruffled feathers in the pro-Israel community following her meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday — with an Israeli official telling Axios the vice president had been “more critical” in public of the war effort in Gaza than in private.
Immediately after the sit-down, Harris declared the Israeli government was killing “far too many” Palestinian civilians.
Netanyahu in a Friday meeting with former President Donald Trump openly worried about the effects Harris’ comments could have on a ceasefire deal with Hamas and the return of the Israeli and US hostages.
“We’re trying to get one,” he told Fox News. “And I think, to the extent that Hamas understands that there’s no daylight between Israel and the United States, that expedites the deal. And I hope that those comments don’t change that.”
Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) also said he thought the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee’s remarks were a mistake.
“I disagree with those comments,” Moskowitz said on Fox News’ “America Reports.”
“I think history will show — and the data will show in comparison to other wars — that that’s not the case,” he added of Harris’ inflation of the civilian death toll.
“This is the most urban area of any warfare we’ve seen in modern history,” Moskowitz pointed out, while claiming later that Harris still had an “extremely pro-Israel” voting record.
Nearly 40,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Ministry of Health, which does not distinguish between terrorists and civilians.
The United Nations in May admitted that the fatalities for women and children had been inflated by nearly double their actual amount over the course of the conflict.
Israel invaded following Hamas’ Oct. 7 terror attack on the Jewish state, which more than 1,200 Israelis, mostly civilians, and 33 Americans.
Another 240 were taken captive back to Gaza — where at least 120 are still hostages, including five US citizens.
