It seems inevitable that Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-Pa.) is going to be chosen as Kamala Harris’s running mate.
Assuming this is correct, the goal of selecting Shapiro is to put Pennsylvania back in play for the Democratic ticket—if not completely out of play for Donald Trump. But, Shapiro’s Jewish heritage and pro-Israel positions are likely to cause a real problem with the far left. Shapiro is one of the only candidates that is outwardly auditioning to be Kamala’s running mate, and sadly, he’s already trying to memory-hole his support of Israel.
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First is the way he’s distancing himself from his past position that peace “will never come” to the Middle East and that a two-state solution wasn’t likely to succeed.
In the opinion article, titled “Peace not possible,” Shapiro, then a 20-year-old student at the University of Rochester, argued that a negotiated accord between Israeli and Palestinian leaders would not end conflict in the region, writing: “Using history as precedent, peace between Arabs and Israelis is virtually impossible and will never come.”
He described the Arab world as fractious, and wrote that the then-Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was in danger of being assassinated “by his fellow belligerent Arabs.”
“Palestinians will not coexist peacefully,” Shapiro wrote. “They do not have the capabilities to establish their own homeland and make it successful even with the aid of Israel and the United States. They are too battle-minded to be able to establish a peaceful homeland of their own.”
Shapiro now insists he supports a two-state solution.
“I was 20,” he said. “I have said for years, years before October 7, that I favor a two-state solution — Israelis and Palestinians living peacefully side-by-side, being able to determine their own futures and their own destiny.”
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For sure, views can evolve, but Shapiro is also now sadly downplaying something he shouldn’t. In the same aforementioned op-ed, he identified himself as a former volunteer for the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
Today, however, his campaign is downplaying that.
Related: The Scandal That Could Ruin Josh Shapiro’s Chances in the Veepstakes
“While he was in high school, Josh Shapiro was required to do a service project, which he and several classmates completed through a program that took them to a kibbutz in Israel where he worked on a farm and at a fishery,” Manuel Bonder, a spokesman for Shapiro, told The Times of Israel. “The program also included volunteering on service projects on an Israeli army base. At no time was he engaged in any military activities.”
Simultaneously, Shapiro’s volunteering for the IDF has been scrubbed from his Wikipedia page.
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Imagine being so desperate to be chosen as Kamala Harris’s running mate that you would look at volunteering for the IDF as something not to be proud of because you’re trying to appease the antisemitic and anti-Zionist wing of the Democratic Party. This is the Democratic Party of today.
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