Last week, after Kamala Harris chose Tim Walz over Josh Shapiro for her VP pick, Mini Racker wrote a piece for The Daily Beast detailing the reasons for her selection.
There was one word which caught my attention - allegiance. Here is the context:
Besides his not-so-secretive ambitions to become president, Shapiro, 51, had other fatal flaws as Harris and her team vetted the finalists: his involvement in a taxpayer-funded payoff to settle a sexual harassment claim against a top aide and his allegiance to Israel (italics mine), which pro-Palestinian groups used to attack him.
The word allegiance, in part, means loyalty. In other words, Racker is stating that Shapiro is loyal to Israel.
Needless to say, it feeds into the notion that Jews have dual loyalty and are thus not truly American.
What Racker ought to have written regarding Shapiro was "his support of Israel." This certainly would have been more accurate and less inflammatory. Governor Shapiro supports Israel just as Vice President Harris and Governor Walz do. There must remain a suspicion, however, that the phrase "allegiance to Israel" would not have been utilized if it was describing a non-Jewish politician.
For my part, I intended to write about this several days ago. However, I reached out to Racker via email and brought my concerns to her attention. Alas, I have received no response from Racker. As such, I think sufficient time has elapsed that it is now appropriate to draw attention to her writing.
I harbor no illusions that any of this will be addressed. Unfortunately, unless this is somehow addressed, I suspect that more journalists will see fit to claim Jewish politicians have an "allegiance" to Israel and in so doing make anti-Semitism more casual and thus more acceptable.
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