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‘Highly Overrated Jewish Governor’: Trump Attacks Josh Shapiro for Supporting Kamala Harris, Cites Israel Support
Republican presidential candidate and former US President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at the Forum River Center in Rome, Georgia, US, March 9, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Alyssa Pointer
Former US President Donald Trump attacked Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro for supporting Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris while being Jewish in a social media post on Thursday.
“The highly overrated Jewish Governor of the Great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, made a really bad and poorly delivered speech talking about freedom and fighting for Comrade Kamala Harris for President,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social site.
“Yet,” Trump continued, “she hates Israel and will do nothing but make its journey through the complexities of survival as difficult as possible, hoping in the end that it will fail.”
Shapiro was a leading contender to be named as Harris’s vice-presidential running mate. However, Harris ultimately chose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, and many observers speculated Shapiro was passed over due to his Jewish faith and support for Israel. Shapiro denied those rumors this week and declared his support for Harris, the current US vice president.
Trump’s post went on to say that “Shapiro, for strictly political reasons, refused to acknowledge that I am the best friend that Israel, and the Jewish people, ever had. I have done more for Israel than any President, and frankly, I have done more for Israel than any person, and it’s not even close.”
Shapiro, on the other hand, “has done nothing for Israel, and never will,” argued Trump, the Republican presidential nominee.
The comments were met with strong pushback from Democrats and some conservatives.
Herbie Ziskend, a spokesperson for US President Joe Biden, wrote that it is “antisemitic, dangerous & hurtful to attack a fellow American by calling out their Jewish faith in a derogatory way, or perpetuating the centuries-old smear of ‘dual loyalty.’”
Shapiro also responded, telling reporters, “Donald Trump is obsessed with me and obsessed with continuing to spew hate and division in our politics.”
“He’s someone who has routinely peddled antisemitic tropes like this,” said Shapiro.
Meanwhile, Phillip Klein, editor of National Review — a prominent US conservative magazine — wrote on X/Twitter that “if Trump’s intention was to alienate every possible gettable Jewish voter who has been disillusioned by Dems but still unsure if they could vote for him, this was an A+ post.”
Tim Carney, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and a columnist at the Washington Examiner, jumped in, adding, “His [Trump’s] intention was — well, he barely can be said to have intentions. He’s a petulant and incontinent child. Everything is about him. His definition of good person is a person who adores Trump.”
Trump appeared on conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt’s show on Wednesday, where he also spoke about Israel and Jews.
The former president doubled down on using the word Palestinian as a derogatory term. “If they [Hamas] hold out [from a ceasefire deal], they know they’re going to win [the war], because so much pressure is being put on Israel,”Trump said. “Right now, Israel, the pressure that’s being put on them by Biden and [Senate Majority Leader Chuck] Schumer, who’s frankly, you know, Schumer is, like is he a member of Hamas? Is he a Palestinian?”
Trump went on to attack American Jews who support Democrats — a group that makes up at least a two-thirds majority of Jews in the US. “I don’t know, how would a Jewish person contribute to Democrats right now?” he asked.
In an interview with Fox News in July, Trump derided anti-Israel Jews as well.
“For whatever reason you have Jewish people out there wearing yarmulkes, and they’re, you know, pro-Palestine. You’ve never seen anything like this,” he said.
During his single term as president, Trump moved the US embassy in Israel to Jerusalem; cut aid to UNRWA, the controversial United Nations agency responsible for Palestinian refugees; and helped facilitate the signing of the Abraham Accords, which normalized Israel’s relations with several Arab countries. He also recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, a strategic region on Israel’s northern border previously controlled by Syria.
The post ‘Highly Overrated Jewish Governor’: Trump Attacks Josh Shapiro for Supporting Kamala Harris, Cites Israel Support first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Germany’s Halt to Arms Exports to Israel Is Response to Gaza Expansion Plans, Chancellor Says
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz attends a cabinet meeting at the Chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Aug. 6, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Liesa Johannssen
Germany’s decision to curb arms exports to Israel comes in response to Israel’s plan to expand its operations in the Gaza Strip, Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on Sunday in an interview with public broadcaster ARD.
“We cannot deliver weapons into a conflict that is now being pursued exclusively by military means,” Merz said. “We want to help diplomatically, and we are doing so.”
The worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza and Israel’s plans to expand military control over the enclave have pushed Germany to take this historically fraught step.
The chancellor said in the interview that the expansion of Israel’s operations in Gaza could claim hundreds of thousands of civilian lives and would require the evacuation of the entire city of Gaza.
“Where are these people supposed to go?” Merz said. “We can’t do that, we won’t do that, and I will not do that.”
Nevertheless, the principles of Germany’s Israel policy remain unchanged, the chancellor said.
“Germany has stood firmly by Israel’s side for 80 years. That will not change,” Merz said.
Germany is Israel’s second-biggest weapons supplier after the US and has long been one of its staunchest supporters, principally because of its historical guilt for the Nazi Holocaust – a policy known as the “Staatsraison.”
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Newsom Calls Trump’s $1 Billion UCLA Settlement Offer Extortion, Says California Won’t Bow
California Governor Gavin Newsom speaks at a press conference, accompanied by members of the Texas Democratic legislators, at the governor’s mansion in Sacramento, California, U.S., August 8, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Carlos Barria
California Governor Gavin Newsom said on Saturday that a $1 billion settlement offer by President Donald Trump’s administration for UCLA amounted to political extortion to which the state will not bow.
The University of California says it is reviewing a $1 billion settlement offer by the Trump administration for UCLA after the government froze hundreds of millions of dollars in funding over pro-Palestinian protests.
UCLA, which is part of the University of California system, said this week the government froze $584 million in funding. Trump has threatened to cut federal funds for universities over anti-Israel student protests.
“Donald Trump has weaponized the DOJ (Department of Justice) to kneecap America’s #1 public university system — freezing medical & science funding until @UCLA pays his $1 billion ransom,” the office of Newsom, a Democrat, said in a post.
“California won’t bow to Trump’s disgusting political extortion,” it added.
“This isn’t about protecting Jewish students – it’s a billion-dollar political shakedown from the pay-to-play president.”
The government alleges universities, including UCLA, allowed antisemitism during the protests and in doing so violated Jewish and Israeli students’ civil rights. The White House had no immediate comment beyond the offer.
Experts have raised free speech and academic freedom concerns over the Republican president’s threats. The University of California says paying such a large settlement would “completely devastate” the institution.
Large demonstrations took place at UCLA last year. Last week, UCLA agreed to pay over $6 million to settle a lawsuit by some students and a professor who alleged antisemitism. It was also sued this year over a 2024 violent mob attack on pro-Palestinian protesters.
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Trump Nominates State Dept Spokeswoman Bruce as US Deputy Representative to UN
FILE PHOTO: U.S. State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce speaks during her first press briefing at the State Department in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 6, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
President Donald Trump said on Saturday he was nominating State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce as the next US deputy representative to the United Nations.
Bruce has been the State Department spokesperson since Trump took office in January.
In a post on social media in which Trump announced her nomination, the president said she did a “fantastic job” as State Department spokesperson. Bruce will need to be confirmed for the role by the US Senate, where Trump’s Republican Party holds a majority.
During press briefings, she has defended the Trump administration’s foreign policy decisions ranging from an immigration crackdown and visa revocations to US responses to Russia’s war in Ukraine and Israel’s war in Gaza, including a widely condemned armed private aid operation in the Palestinian territory.
Bruce was previously a political contributor and commentator on Fox News for over 20 years.
She has also authored books like “Fear Itself: Exposing the Left’s Mind-Killing Agenda” that criticized liberals and left-leaning viewpoints.
In a post after Trump’s announcement, Bruce thanked him and suggested that the role was a “few weeks” away. Neither Trump nor Bruce mentioned an exact timeline in their online posts.
“Now I’m blessed that in the next few weeks my commitment to advancing America First leadership and values continues on the global stage in this new post,” Bruce wrote on X.
Trump has picked former White House national security adviser Mike Waltz to be his U.N. envoy. Waltz’s Senate confirmation for that role, wherein he will be Bruce’s boss, is still due.
Waltz was Trump’s national security adviser until he was ousted on May 1 after he was caught up in a March scandal involving a Signal chat among top Trump national security aides on military strikes in Yemen. Trump then nominated Waltz as his U.N. ambassador.