Who is Josh Shapiro, Harris’ potential pro-Israel running mate?

Since US President Joe Biden introduced he’ll now not search re-election, questions have emerged over who Kamala Harris will choose as her vice-presidential operating mate if she turns into the Democratic presidential nominee for the 2024 election.

One potential candidate is Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, who was fast to endorse Harris for president with a number of bookies placing him as odds on favorite to hitch her on the Democrat ticket. 

Different names which were floated as doable operating mates for Harris embody Kentucky governor Andy Beshear, Maryland governor Wes Moore and transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg. Nonetheless, based on a ballot carried out by BlueLabs, Shapiro was proven because the candidate who carried out the strongest and is reportedly already being vetted by high Democrat donors as Harris’s operating mate.

The New Arab takes a take a look at who’s Josh Shapiro and the place he stands on Israel and Palestine.

Who’s Josh Shapiro?

Shapiro was born in 1973 right into a Masorti Jewish family and attended a Jewish day college.

Based on Israeli media, he and his mom have been lively within the Free Soviet Jewry motion, which campaigned for the correct of Jews within the Soviet Union to to migrate.

If chosen, Shapiro could be the primary Jewish candidate for Vice President since Joe Lieberman’s unsuccessful run with Democratic nominee Al Gore in 2000.

After graduating from regulation at Georgetown, Shapiro was elected in 2020 as Pennsylvania Legal professional Normal the place he led investigations into sexual abuse within the Catholic church and in addition tackled points concerning training, healthcare entry and abortion rights.

Shapiro rapidly travelled up by means of Pennsylvania authorities to his eventual profitable run for governor of the state in 2023.

Help for Israel

Regardless of Shapiro’s assist for liberal causes and insurance policies, his staunch assist for Israel amid the brutal battle on Gaza has attracted enormous consideration in current months,

That is important given Biden’s robust assist for Israel may lose him votes in key swing states like Michigan, which has a major Arab and Muslim American inhabitants, in addition to amongst youthful voters, individuals of color, and progressives. 

In December 2023, a couple of months after Israel launched its battle on Gaza, Shapiro reiterated his assist for Israel’s navy’s actions, which has to this point killed not less than 39,000 individuals.

“Israel not solely has a proper, they’ve a accountability to rid the area of Hamas and the fear that Hamas can perpetrate,” he mentioned on the time.

Some have accused Shapiro of stifling free speech, after he ordered state staff to keep away from “scandalous” conduct over pro-Gaza protests.

He additionally quietly revised his administration’s code of conduct, in order that “scandalous or disgraceful behaviour” may lead to being disciplined or termination, with pro-Palestinian staff considered the goal of this coverage.

Professional-Palestine and Muslim American teams raised alarm over the choice, saying it might be unconstitutional and curtail free speech.

The vaguely worded revision mentioned that it applies to anybody “on or off responsibility”, with out specifying how it might be enforced.

Opposition to ceasefire

Shapiro has additionally been criticised for refusing to name for a ceasefire in Gaza regardless of youngsters being among the many largest victims of the assault.

The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) issued a press release in April claiming that his phrases and actions have created a lot hurt in Muslim, Arab and pro-Palestine communities.

“At a time when governors of California and New Jersey have underlined in public statements their assist for a ceasefire in Gaza, Gov. Shapiro has failed to try this,” the assertion learn.

“His assaults on educational freedom, deliberately depicting protests in a unfavorable gentle, failure to look after and take heed to Palestinian Pennsylvanians whose households are being massacred day out and in by Israeli authorities, and his behind-the-scenes antagonization of neighborhood organizations can’t be ignored and simply forgiven,” it continued.