Despite being singled out for double-standard treatment as a Vice-Presidential prospect because of his Jewish faith, the Pennsylvania Governor takes the high road.
(Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro takes the stage at Temple University in Philadelphia to endorse and campaign for the 2024 Democratic Ticket of Kamala Harris & Tim Walz.)
Josh Shapiro saved the Democratic Party from committing suicide this week and few people noticed.
No, they were busy basking in the smile and warmth and contagious joy of Kamala Harris, history’s child, destined to become the first female President of the United States. Harris had announced on social media earlier that day her choice of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate.
But, all of that celebratory mood could have changed instantly before a huge Philadelphia hometown crowd that was his, had Shapiro—Pennsylvania’s Governor with a 61% approval rating– been a smaller man prone to grudges, or not “the kind of guy you want in a foxhole with you,” as some of his backstabbers whispered to willing grave-diggers from The Nation Magazine and The New Republic, and to some political bomb throwers, hell bent on sabotaging Shapiro’s chances to be chosen as Harris’ Vice-Presidential running mate
The New York Times’ Katie Glueck was one person who did notice, and she captured the full import of Shapiro’s monumental moment in an August 6, 2024 story headlined: “I Am Proud Of My Faith: Shapiro’s Fiery Speech Ends on a Personal Note.” Her opening paragraph perfectly framed the issue:
“For years, Governor Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania has said that his Jewish faith drives his commitment to public service.”
Glueck carefully observed that, “as he wrapped up a fiery speech in Philadelphia, after the conclusion of a vice-presidential search process that prompted intense public scrutiny of his views on Israel, Mr. Shapiro’s familiar references to his religious background took on a raw new resonance. And he seemed to sound a note of defiance.”
Those of us watching closely on television, listening to every word he spoke, and noting every nuance of his body language or facial expressions, were mesmerized by what came next. Shapiro slowed his ministerial cadence and turned and looked directly into the camera:
“I am proud of my faith.”
Glueck masterfully described the scene as 10,000 + people sucked in air, some shouting “PREACH,” not knowing what would come next, but clearly heard “his voice rising and speaking deliberately to sustained applause.”
“I lean on my family, and I lean on my faith, which calls me to serve,” Shapiro bellowed.
Many in the packed hall at Temple University knew exactly what powerful meaning there was behind those words, coming after what the New York Times described as an “ugly final phase of Ms. Harris’ search” for a Vice-Presidential running mate. What they didn’t know was how Shapiro would respond on the national stage after weeks of relentless anti-Semitic attacks against him, his faith, and his qualified support of Israel.
The slurs were leaked through specific stories, ugly social media campaigns and blatantly biased websites like NoGenocideJosh.com , which commanded its users to “say no to Genocide Josh Shapiro for Vice President.”
Chris Lehmann in a Nation Magazine (August 2, 2024) story headlined “Josh Shapiro is a Bad VP Pick Anyway You Look At It,” scrawled that “The strongest argument against picking Shapiro is rooted in his hardline stance against both the Gaza protests on Pennsylvania university campuses…and the BDS movement (boycott, divestment and sanctions” against Israel. Only later did Lehmann note that Mark Kelly and Tim Walz—the other two “finalists” for VP– held similar policy positions. However, neither one was Jewish.
One week earlier, The New Republic (7/24/24) slimed Shapiro as : “The One Vice-Presidential Pick Who Could Ruin the Democratic Party.” Written by David Klion, a self-proclaimed “progressive millennial”, the anti-Semitism shouted off the page:
“Shapiro is an observant Jew with personal ties to Israel…”
As evidence of those “ personal ties to Israel,” Klion cited an October 7th tweet from Shapiro—the day when Hamas massacred 1200 innocent Israeli citizens—which said:
“Our family has shared many special moments in Israel and our hearts break for those living this horror now.”
The statement was virtually identical to those issued by nearly every single public official in the United States, including Joe Biden and Kamala Harris.
In another fabrication masquerading as a fact, Klion claimed that “unfortunately, Shapiro also stands out among the current field (of VP candidates) for being egregiously bad on Palestine.” Klion intentionally ignored that Shapiro has called Netanyahu “ one of the worst leaders of all time,” and that the Biden/Harris administration, Senator Mark Kelly, and Tim Walz have similar policy positions on Israel and the War in Gaza. Further, Senator Mark Kelly attended Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s address before Congress—which Kamala Harris opted to skip– and stood and applauded when Netanyahu spoke. Neither Biden, Harris, Kelly nor Walz are Jewish.
In a searing article in The Atlantic Magazine (7/31/24), entitled “Who’s Afraid of Josh Shapiro,” author Yair Rosenberg writes:
“…as its name implies, the “Genocide Josh” campaign is not about applying a single standard on Palestine to all VP contenders; it’s about applying them to one person, who just so happens to be the only Jew on the shortlist. And to make matters more absurd, Shapiro’s positions on Israel don’t come close to fitting the epithet.
“I personally believe Benjamin Netanyahu is one of the worst leaders of all time,” Shapiro told reporters in January, months before Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called for the Israeli leader to resign. At the time, Shapiro also pressed for an “immediate two-state solution,” something Netanyahu and his hard-right government stridently oppose.”
Rosenberg also quotes CNN’s John King about how Shapiro’s Jewishness, could pose a risk to the Democrats: “He’s Jewish,” King noted, “so there could be some risk putting him on the ticket.”
In a brilliant piece of analysis, Rosenberg points out how the anti-Shapiro forces on the Left may have undermined their own calls for an end to the War in Gaza by sabotaging the Vice-Presidential candidacy of the most prominent Jewish American public official:
“The truth is that whatever Shapiro’s views, a Jewish vice president would function in precisely the opposite manner from what these critics fear. Far from a sinister Semitic Svengali suborning the president to an Israeli agenda, a Jewish veep would be trotted out to defend Harris in her inevitable conflicts with Israel’s right-wing government, and to insulate the boss from charges of anti-Semitism. As one Republican Senate staffer put it to the Jewish Insider last week, if Shapiro is picked, “forget about claiming we’re the only party standing against anti-Semitism.”
That Republican claim is laughable on its face when put up against the Charlottesville, Virginia, 2017 White Supremacist rally where extreme Right Wing protestors marched with Tiki-torches shouting “Jews will not replace us,” and their actions were later embraced by Donald Trump. Additionally, the MAGA-maimed party continues to traffic with a vast network of Far Right, anti-Semitic extremists from the American Nazis, to White Supremacists, to conspiracy theorists who believe that a Jewish cabal of bankers, internationalists and media rule the world.
Of equal importance was Shapiro’s 2022 campaign for Governor where he faced the nation’s first full-frontal assault of the extreme Right Wing fundamentalist Christian Nationalist Movement, which advocates for a nation devoid of Jews, gays and women’s rights, and influenced the authoritarian philosophy behind the Heritage Foundations’ Project 2025. Shapiro, then, the darling of the progressive left within the Democratic Party, was eloquent and electrifying in standing strong for protecting individual and human rights—including Freedom of Religion—and he crushed his Trump-loving opponent by some 15%, an unheard of margin of victory for a Democrat in the pivotal swing state of Pennsylvania.
Shapiro’s presence on the ticket, as a religious Jew and champion of individual liberties & human rights, would have, in short given a President Harris the perfect cover and opportunity to end the War in Gaza, reduce the sale of weapons to Israel, and hold ultra-extremist Israeli government officials accountable for the deaths of nearly 40,000 innocent Palestinians.
But despite being defamed in print and online as plotting and disloyal (a common charge hurled at Jews throughout history), egomaniacal and not a team player, Josh Shapiro made a conscious decision not to expose –before 10,000 of his fellow Pennsylvanians and a national television audience–how virulently he had been singularly targeted–among all of the other serious Vice Presidential possibilities—because he is a Jew.
Instead of elaborating on how much his faith meant to him, and how only he—among all the other Democrats on the Vice-Presidential short list–had been held to a faith-based standard on Israel—strikingly similar to how JFK was discriminated against for his Catholicism in 1960—Shapiro gave a rip-roaring speech in support of the Harris/Walz ticket.
Had Shapiro used that precious moment in time when 10,000 Pennsylvanians held their collective breaths, and he held the nation’s attention in his hands, to reveal the details of the “ugly final phase” of the Vice Presidential search—aimed only at him–Kamala Harris’ historic candidacy and the Democratic chances to win the House and Senate in 2024, would have had a fiery ending.
In keeping with his character and great personal integrity—despite being “othered” because of his Jewish faith by a segment of the Democratic Party and some elements of the media–Josh Shapiro took the high road, the only one he knows, and that made all the difference. What remains to be seen is whether that path will be available to him, or any other national Jewish Democrat, to take in the future. And, if not, what the consequences will be.
