Kamala Harris' Defamatory & Disgraceful Treatment of Josh Shapiro

(Tyger Williams/Philadelphia Inquirer)

In an excerpt from his forthcoming memoir Where We Keep the Light, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro revealed that while he was being vetted as Kamala Harris' possible running mate, he was asked if he was "an agent of the Israeli government."

Shapiro indicated that the question was posed to him by Dana Remus, who served as White House Counsel during the Biden Administration and previously worked for the Obamas both during and after their time in the White House.

When Shapiro told Remus he found the question offensive, she said, "Well, we have to ask. We have to check." Remus then pressed Shapiro if he had ever communicated with an undercover Israeli agent. Shapiro retorted, "If they were undercover, how the hell would I know?"

So why was it necessary for the Harris campaign to ask such a question of Shapiro. Does Harris think all Jews work as Israeli double agents?

Deborah Lipstadt, who served as the anti-Semitism envoy during the Biden Administration, denounced the treatment Shapiro received:

This report is extremely distressing. When vetted by the White House for my position as special envoy, I was not asked anything akin to this. Had I been, I would have responded that the question is an example of why an envoy is necessary. It is classic antisemitism.

If that wasn't enough, Harris herself asked Shapiro if he would apologize for condemning campus protests at UPenn. Shapiro declined to do so.

Harris was essentially asking Shapiro to apologize for demanding an end to the encampment of UPenn by pro-Hamas students so all students could feel safe on campus. The fact that she believed this warranted an apology by Shapiro says a great deal more about Harris and her attitudes towards Jews than it does about Shapiro.

Under the circumstances, a Harris-Shapiro ticket would have never worked. In this sense, Shapiro dodged a bullet when Harris picked Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to be her running mate instead.

But the fact the Harris campaign team saw fit to presume a Jewish elected official was automatically an Israeli double agent and that Harris herself thought Shapiro ought to apologize for bringing order back to UPenn guarantees that I will absolutely not vote for her should she be chosen as the Democratic Party's presidential nominee yet again in 2028.

Harris' retrospective bashing of President Biden was bad enough. Her personal conduct and that of her campaign towards Josh Shapiro is both defamatory and disgraceful. Above all, it is anti-Semitic.