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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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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.