Governor of Pennsylvania Josh Shapiro speaks during the Shapiro-Davis re-election campaign kickoff rally in Philadelphia on Jan. 8.Hannah Beier/Reuters
If the only Jewish candidate making it all the way to the last round of interviews to become Kamala Harris’s running mate is asked whether he has ever acted as a double agent for Israel, is that antisemitism?
If the answer is yes, the next question has to be: whose antisemitism?
This headline-making revelation is contained in Josh Shapiro’s forthcoming memoir, Where We Keep the Light. Advance copies were obtained by U.S. media outlets including The New York Times and The Atlantic.
Mr. Shapiro, Governor of Pennsylvania, was one of three potential running mates interviewed by Ms. Harris for the position during her whirlwind campaign for the presidency, after Joe Biden stepped aside. Just before their sit-down interview in August, 2024, Mr. Shapiro was on the phone taking questions from a top member of the vice-presidential search team. Dana Remus, according to the book, had one final thing to ask. “Have you ever been an agent of the Israeli government?”
Mr. Shapiro balked.
“Had I been a double agent for Israel? Was she kidding? I told her how offensive the question was,” Mr. Shapiro writes. She followed up: Had he ever spoken with an undercover Israeli agent?
“[Ms.] Remus was just doing her job,” writes Mr. Shapiro. “I get it. But the fact that she asked, or was told to ask that question by someone else, said a lot about some of the people around the VP.”
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Actually, it says a lot about the times we are living in. Not just the people around Ms. Harris. But something far more serious: American voters. People, in general.
Some have been quick to declare that these revelations expose bigotry on the Harris team. “Classic antisemitism,” tweeted Deborah Lipstadt, the former antisemitism envoy under Mr. Biden. “Horrifying,” stated Ms. Lipstadt’s former deputy, Aaron Keyak.
But if this is antisemitism, it doesn’t originate with the Harris campaign. This is not for them to wear. This kind of scrutiny is necessary in this political age. And this line of questioning is consistent with an election held in an environment that is teeming with anti-Israel sentiment – and yes, antisemitism. The campaign was being pragmatic.
That doesn’t make it all hunky dory. In fact, what this suggests is far more alarming. Ms. Harris and her campaign people aren’t the problem. It was the voters they were worried about. Ignore the ethos at your peril.
(Quick Cancon note: according to the book, which will be published Jan. 27, when Mr. Shapiro began contemplating involvement in a campaign to replace Mr. Biden, he reached out to his wife, Lori, who was travelling. Her response: “I’m in a Canadian Walmart right now. Maybe not the ideal time for this conversation.” Which itself raises some questions. But I digress.)
Mr. Shapiro was also asked by Ms. Harris whether he would apologize for some statements he had made about pro-Palestinian encampments at the University of Pennsylvania. He said he would not.
“It nagged at me that their questions weren’t really about substance,” Mr. Shapiro writes. “Rather, they were questioning my ideology, my approach, my world view.”
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Anyone being considered for this type of role should expect just that. Not just to see if one’s world view aligns with the presidential candidate, but with voters. And in 2024 (and still) it did not.
This vetting experience does suggest that yes, it’s crazy what a Jewish person has to go through when non-Jewish candidates do not face similar scrutiny. But that’s politics.
Jewish people of my generation (X) grew up wondering if we would see a Jewish president (or prime minister) in our lifetime. If that once seemed like a possibility, it does not now.
Mr. Shapiro ultimately withdrew from the process. If, as the pundits expect, he is considering a run for Democratic presidential nominee – which would be consistent with releasing a memoir at this point in his life and career – he needs to be cognizant of the fact that it won’t be easy to elect a Jewish president in this era. The writing is not just on the walls – the anti-Israel and antisemitic graffiti that has become ubiquitous since Oct. 7, 2023; the walls of Mr. Shapiro’s own residence were targeted in an arson attack last Passover – it’s also in his book.
With an agent of chaos in the White House and Republican Party sycophants supporting Donald Trump’s terrifying, world-disrupting campaign of madness, a strong Democratic presidential candidate is critical. Someone who can win. These are dark times to be looking for the light.