Josh Shapiro Makes Strong Play for the Leftist Anti-Zionist Vote

(Freedom First Network)— After being attacked by Hamas last year, Israel became an easy target for radical leftist Anti-Zionists. They knew Israel would respond harshly to having over a thousand citizens murdered and hundreds kidnapped to be tortured as sex slaves which is why the extreme progressives were already protesting against Israel before the fires in the kibbutzim were extinguished.

This is a problem for leading Democrat VP hopeful Josh Shapiro. On paper, the Governor of Pennsylvania would be the perfect choice for Kamala Harris. But his Jewish heritage and past support of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) is problematic.

As a college student, he wrote an article panning the two-state solution because Palestinians were “too battle-minded.” This is correct, but now that he’s in politics and must pander to the Anti-Zionists, he is in favor of a two-state solution and is actively hiding any past praise of Israel. His excuse is that he was young and stupid when he was concerned that Palestinians could engage in heinous terrorism, just as they did on October 7, 2023.

“I was 20,” he said at an unrelated news conference in Delaware County. “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.”

Reformed thinkers are often the most sought-after for political office. For example, both Ronald Reagan and Donald Trump were former Democrats before becoming Republican presidents. J.D. Vance was a NeverTrumper before becoming an avid supporter and Trump’s running-mate. Tulsi Gabbard is loved by many Republicans who despised her when she was a Democrat congresswoman. Can Shapiro make the same play?

It appears so. Rumors from multiple sources and anecdotal evidence point to Shapiro being the white guy Kamala Harris is going to put under her. Neither the fact that he’s of Jewish descent nor his past affection for Israel will be factors now that he’s actively disavowing both. If anything, he might be appealing to some Republican Anti-Zionists who don’t like the fact that Donald Trump and J.D. Vance vehemently support Israel’s right to defend itself from terrorists at their border.

But some on the far-left aren’t happy at all with Shapiro. The Nation posted an article recently denouncing him, particularly over his unwillingness to allow Anti-Zionist protesters to take over Pennsylvania college campuses. As they noted:

The strongest argument against picking Shapiro is rooted in his hardline stance against both the Gaza protests on Pennsylvania university campuses—some of which he compared to white supremacist encampments—and the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement seeking to reverse Israel’s brutal human-rights record in the Occupied Territories. In The New Republic, writer David Klion made the case that Shapiro’s elevation to the ticket would kill off much of the movement energy now marshaled behind Harris’s run.

Between being governor of a large swing state and converting from his past Zionist views, it seems nearly certain that a Harris-Shapiro ticket is about to be announced.