Gov. Josh Shapiro (D-PA) is almost certainly going to be Vice President Kamala Harris' pick for running mate. A social media post mistakenly shared to Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker's X account before it was supposed to be pretty much confirms it. Shapiro has some issues against him, such as a sexual harassment coverup scandal, but there's also how the pro-Hamas, anti-Israel part of the Democratic base isn't too keen. Sure enough, Shapiro looks to have been doing something about that.
Multiple reports, including Bonchie at our sister site of RedState, as well as The Times of Israel and Fox News, have covered several examples. There's the scrubbing of how Shapiro volunteered for Israel's IDF. He's also walking back from his past criticisms of Palestinians and is having a spokesperson clarify his past pro-Israel stances.
They just scrubbed Josh Shapiro volunteering for the IDF from his Wikipedia page.
— Vince Dao (@VinceDaoTV) August 3, 2024
Damage control has been turned up to the max.
Would be a shame if the Democrat base found out! pic.twitter.com/rMTFYbuhef
Josh Shapiro has now disowned his previous criticism of the Palestinians and his IDF service has been scrubbed from his Wikipedia page.
— Bonchie (@bonchieredstate) August 3, 2024
I hate to break it to Jewish Americans, but he isn’t going to have your back. He’ll be excusing pro-Hamas simps in Dearborn by next week.
JUST IN: Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro is doing major DAMAGE CONTROL over reports he sought to join the Israeli Defense Force when he was younger.
— Kyle Becker (@kylenabecker) August 3, 2024
In his unearthed editorial, he not only talked about volunteering for the IDF, but he also disparaged Palestinians.
In the 1993… pic.twitter.com/41PQywPUYv
The Fox News focused on how Shapiro wrote an essay for the Campus Times at the University of Rochester more than three decades ago in which he raised legitimate concerns about Palestinians. He's now walking such words back, though.
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As that report mentioned:
"Since he wrote this piece as a 20-year-old student, Gov. Shapiro has built close, meaningful, informative relationships with many Muslim-American, Arab-American, Palestinian Christian, and Jewish community leaders all across Pennsylvania," Shapiro’s spokesman Manuel Bonder told Fox News Digital in a statement.
"The Governor greatly values their perspectives and the experiences he has learned from over the years – and as a result, as with many issues, his views on the Middle East have evolved into the position he holds today," Bonder continued.
The Philadelphia Inquirer uncovered the essay that Shapiro wrote for the Campus Times, the student newspaper of the University of Rochester, from which Shapiro graduated in 1995. In the article, Shapiro stressed his view that "Palestinians will not peacefully coexist," because "they do not have the capabilities to establish their own homelands 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 wrote, identifying himself as a "past volunteer in the Israeli army." He referred to the Arab world as divided and "belligerent."
Manuel Bonder, that spokesperson for Shapiro, also says that the governor supports a two-state solution. This puts him in line with the Harris, as well as President Joe Biden, a narrative that they and other top Democrats have emphasized, especially since Hamas terrorists perpetrated an attack against Israel on October 7.
"It's worth noting that in the preceding decades, Shapiro's words have been proven correct. Yasser Arafat would go on to reject a two-state solution and instead embrace perpetual war. The same outcome would repeat some years later when Palestinians elected Hamas in Gaza. The rest is history, with continual acts of terrorism and pledges to wipe Israel off the map," Bonchie highlighted, pointing to a statement from Bonder about support for a two-state solution.
The Palestinians themselves do not want a two-state solution. They're also increasingly in favor of Hamas, reputable surveys continue to show.
The Times of Israel also included statements from the spokesperson trying to bend over backwards explaining Shapiro's time with the IDF:
Pennsylvania Governor and potential Democratic vice presidential nominee Josh Shapiro on Friday sought to distance himself from a recently uncovered op-ed he wrote in college, in which he identified as a former volunteer in the IDF and argued that the Palestinians are too “battle-minded” to pursue peace with Israel.
“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,” Shapiro’s spokesperson Manuel Bonder 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,” Bonder added in a statement responding to an inquiry regarding the nature of his volunteer work.
That so-called progressives have given Shapiro heat for daring to be Jewish as well as his support for Israel, which Bonder has since clarified in statements for various outlets, as we also covered last week, says plenty about the Democratic Party. There's plenty of antisemitic, anti-Israel, and pro-Hamas folks who have to be won over.
Shapiro is a popular enough governor of a key battleground state, with former and potentially future President Donald Trump currently leading there by +2.7. Michigan is another must-win state too, though.
This also may all say something about Shapiro and what looks to be a desire to appease such a base and to win. "It's Orwellian, and a sign of just how far Democrats are willing to go to hold onto power," Bonchie so aptly put it.
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