Jewish Democrats race to Shapiro’s defense: Attacks are ‘clearly antisemitic’

Jewish Democrats on Capitol Hill are up in arms over the liberal attacks on Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D), saying the potential vice presidential pick has been unfairly maligned merely because he’s the leading Jewish figure on Vice President Harris’s shortlist.

A number of voices on the far left have gone after Shapiro in recent weeks over his position on the Israel-Hamas War, accusing the 51-year-old governor of blindly supporting Israel’s aggressive military campaign at the expense of the tens of thousands of Palestinians who have been killed in the conflict. Some have labeled him “Genocide Josh.”

Those attacks have rankled Shapiro’s allies in Congress, particularly Jewish lawmakers who say the critics have not only misrepresented Shapiro’s position on the war, but they’re also flirting with antisemitism. 

“Josh’s position on Israel is almost identical to everybody else, but he’s being held to a different standard. So you have to ask yourself why,” Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) said.

Moskowitz said his party would never tolerate similar attacks if the potential candidate was, for example, Black, gay or Latino, in which case “we would call that out and it would be deafening.” 

“But Josh is being held to a double and triple standard,” he added, “in an effort to try and kill his chance at becoming the vice president.”

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.), another prominent Jewish lawmaker, is also racing to Shapiro’s defense, saying the critics are dissecting Shapiro’s resume in ways the other shortlisted candidates simply haven’t had to endure. 

“It has been very noticeable that of all of the people that she is carefully considering, that the only Jewish candidate is getting excruciating, very specific scrutiny, particularly around his positions on Israel,” Wasserman Schultz said, a dynamic she called “deeply concerning.”

The criticism of Shapiro and his stance on Gaza, to be sure, has been spearheaded by groups on the far left and not prominent progressives in Congress.

But those voices of opposition have nonetheless been loud.

In a statement last month, the Philadelphia chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America issued a statement making the case against Shapiro as vice president, writing that he is “an outspoken supporter of the Zionist project in Palestine.” And a campaign against Shapiro has taken shape at NoGenocideJosh.org, which, according to a document obtained by Jewish Insider, includes individuals from “Dear White Staffers,” the social media account that reports on alleged workplace abuses in the Capitol.

Shapiro, in just his first term in the governor’s office, has quickly built a national profile for his track record of building bipartisan coalitions, outperforming other Democrats at the polls and maintaining a broad appeal in a purple battleground state. Recent polls have put his approval rating at around 60 percent.  

The governor — who keeps kosher, attended Jewish day school and proposed to his wife in Jerusalem — has been staunchly pro-Israel amid the war in Gaza, bolstering Tel Aviv’s right to defend itself, underscoring the importance of defeating Hamas, and denouncing the pro-Palestinian protests that took over college campuses in the spring, including at the University of Pennsylvania.

Shapiro, however, has also been supportive of a two-state solution in the Middle East and notably critical of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. At one point he dubbed the conservative leader “one of the worst leaders of all time,” arguing that the controversial figure “has steered Israel in a wrong direction, and made Israel less safe and made their future less bright because of his leadership.” The statement came months before Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in history, called for new elections in Israel and said Netanyahu had “lost his way.”

Shapiro’s supporters have been quick to point out that the governor’s position on the Gaza war is in line with that of other vice presidential candidates — and has, at times, been more critical of Israel than others — arguing that the increased scrutiny on his perspective is fueled by antisemitism.

Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.), for example, said it would be appropriate for the police to step in and quell college campus protests that took an unlawful turn and labeled Hamas “the biggest barrier” to obtaining a cease-fire in the Middle East, while also saying Israeli officials “have to do a better job” at decreasing innocent deaths.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), meanwhile, ordered flags to be flown at half staff in the North Star State after the Oct. 7 attack on Israel and, according to TC Jewfolk, he told attendees at a temple days after the massacre, “If you did not find moral clarity on Saturday morning, and you find yourself waiting to think about what you needed to say, you need to reevaluate where you’re at.”

“The people I’ve seen talking about the vice presidential candidates and then singling out Gov. Shapiro for positions that are virtually identical to everyone else who’s being considered, and saying his position on Israel and Gaza disqualifies him, the only thing that would be different from anybody else is the fact that he’s Jewish, and that by definition falls under the category of antisemitism,” said Rep. Brad Schneider (D-Ill.), another Jewish lawmaker.

Rep. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), another veteran Jewish lawmaker, noted that Shapiro’s critics are not all of the same mold. Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), for instance, is also cold to Shapiro’s rise to vice president, but “that doesn’t have anything to do with antisemitism, and everything to do with Pennsylvania politics,” Sherman said.

Still, Sherman minced no words in decrying Shapiro’s pro-Hamas critics who “are clearly antisemitic.” 

“If you go to the Twittersphere, they seem to have noticed that one of the people on the shortlist is Jewish and they are blazing away with every bit of vituperative anger that they’re known for,” Sherman said. “His positions [on Israel] are the same as everybody else on the shortlist. So yeah, I think it’s because he’s Jewish. 

“They can say he went to Israel. But that’s what American Jews do,” he continued. “All of my Mexican American friends have been to Mexico. All my French American friends have been to France.”

The Israel-Hamas conflict is not the only issue fueling a liberal backlash about Shapiro as a potential VP selection. Fetterman, for instance, has reportedly clashed with Shapiro for years on issues of law enforcement and clemency policy. And some other prominent progressive lawmakers are citing Shapiro’s position on labor issues, particularly his support for school voucher programs, which has run afoul with some labor union leaders who are calling for Harris to pick someone else. 

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), the head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, made clear her distaste for Shapiro just before the recess, citing labor issues rather than Israel policy. Asked specifically about the Pennsylvania governor, she declined to comment because, she said, she couldn’t endorse him. 

“I’m not really commenting on other — I’m commenting on who I think would be a great choice,” Jayapal told reporters outside the Capitol. 

“I just don’t see how you can put somebody in that does not have a strong prolabor record,” she continued. “That is a core constituency of the Democratic Party. It is a core platform to fight for.”

Harris is expected to reveal her pick for running mate Tuesday morning, ahead of a scheduled campaign stop featuring the full Democratic ticket in Philadelphia later in the day. Aside from Shapiro, she has also weighed the possible choices of Walz, Kelly, Gov. JB Pritzker of Illinois and Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg, among others.

As the country awaits Harris’s announcement, many Democrats are promoting a simple measure they hope will guide her decision: Pick the candidate who gives the party the best chance of keeping former President Trump from winning a second term in the White House.

Some said Trump’s running mate selection of Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), whose provocative comments in recent weeks have forced Republicans to play defense, offers a roadmap for how not to choose a running mate. 

“Trump … does everything pretty sloppily, and I’m sure that he had no idea how much JD Vance hated cats and loved couches,” Sherman said. “So clearly the Republicans did not do their job, and I expect that the Democrats will do our job.”