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Kamala Harris Passing on Josh Shapiro for VP Cost Her Jewish Support, Exit Poll Shows
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D) holds a rally in support of US Vice President Kamala Harris’ Democratic presidential election campaign in Ambler, Pennsylvania, US, July 29, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Rachel Wisniewski
US Vice President Kamala Harris’s failed presidential bid could have received more support from Jewish voters had the Democratic nominee selected Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as her running mate, an exit poll revealed.
Had Harris picked Shapiro — a popular moderate who is also Jewish — instead of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), she would have won Jewish voters in the critical swing state of Pennsylvania by a margin of 53 percent to 38 percent, according to a survey conducted by the Honan Strategy Group for the Teach Coalition, an affiliate of the Jewish Orthodox Union. The Harris-Walz ticket ultimately won Jewish voters within the Keystone State by a narrower margin of 48 percent to 41 percent.
The exit poll was first reported by The New York Post earlier this week.
Over the course of her ill-fated campaign, Harris had been dogged by accusations of being both soft on antisemitism and an unreliable ally of Israel. The polling results suggest that selecting Shapiro, a vocal defender of the Jewish state, would have helped bolster some of her support among Jewish citizens.
Harris’s decision to bypass Shapiro for the vice-presidential nomination elicited surprise, outrage, and even accusations of antisemitism. Many observers perceived Shapiro, a popular governor with charismatic oratory skills, to be a strong choice to compliment Harris on the presidential ticket.
However, Shapiro’s repeated passionate defenses of the Jewish state and repudiation of anti-Israel protesters infuriated many within the far-left flank of the Democratic Party. In an interview with CNN, Shapiro condemned anti-Israel college campus protesters, saying that such demonstrations would be met with fierce backlash “if this were people dressed up in KKK outfits or KKK regalia.” Shapiro has also backed a Pennsylvania bill that would “financially penalize the government of Israel or commercial financial activity in Israel.”
In the days following Hamas’s massacre across southern Israel ;ast Oct. 7, Shapiro, a practicing Jew, issued statements condemning the Palestinian terrorist group and gave a speech at a local synagogue. The governor also ordered the US and Pennsylvania Commonwealth flags to fly at half mast outside the state capitol to honor the victims.
Then-Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, now the president-elect, pounced on Harris’s snub of Shapiro, suggesting that she blocked the Pennsylvania governor from the ticket because he is Jewish. Trump argued that Shapiro could anger Muslim voters in critical swing states such as Michigan, especially with a heightened focused on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict amid the war in Gaza. However, Shapiro defended Harris, claiming that antisemitism had nothing to do with his failed bid to become the Democratic nominee for vice president.
Some commentators suggested that Harris passed over Shapiro because she was worried about his ambition, a lack of chemistry, and the possibility of the governor overshadowing her.
The post Kamala Harris Passing on Josh Shapiro for VP Cost Her Jewish Support, Exit Poll Shows first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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John Fetterman Says His US Senate Votes Will ‘Follow Israel’ During Trump Presidency
US Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) gives an interview in his office in the Russell Senate Office Building in Washington, DC, Jan. 18, 2024. Photo: Rod Lamkey / CNP/Sipa USA for NY Post via Reuters Connect
US Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) on Thursday defended President Joe Biden’s record on Israel and stated that he plans on maintaining his support for pro-Israel efforts advanced by President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration.
During an appearance on the ABC talk show “The View,” Fetterman said that he would remain an “unapologetic” supporter of Israel during the Trump presidency and that he will continue to support legislation and initiatives that benefit the Jewish state.
“I’m a really strong, unapologetic supporter of Israel and it’s really not going to change for me when Trump becomes [president]. My vote and voice is going to follow Israel,” Fetterman said.
Fetterman also vouched for Biden’s record on Israel, although he conceded that he has disagreed with some of Biden’s policy positions regarding the Israel-Hamas war.
“I do think that the president has been a strong supporter of Israel, although there were times when I disagreed with some of the choices he made,” Fetterman said.
In the year following Hamas’s invasion of southern Israel last Oct. 7, Fetterman has emerged as a surprisingly stalwart ally of the Jewish state. He has regularly criticized other Democrats, including Biden, over their perceived fragile and unreliable support of Israel.
The lawmaker openly criticized Biden after the president threatened to withhold arms from Israel if the Jewish state greenlighted military operations in the city of Rafah in southern Gaza. Fetterman repudiated Biden’s ultimatum, saying that the US should “stand with our key ally throughout all of this.” He has also rebuffed pressure by progressives to adopt a more adversarial posture against Israel, saying that he does “not support any conditions” on American military aid to the Jewish sate.
Fetterman on Thursday also lauded Israel for its progress in deteriorating the Hamas terrorist group’s military capabilities. The senator asserted that Hamas needs to be completely eradicated and removed from the Gaza Strip.
“We cannot allow Hamas to function at all. They can’t be a part of any rebuilding Gaza or anything. Hamas has to surrender. It’ll be completely destroyed, and I think right now that largely that’s already happened now,” Fetterman said, adding that he wants to “salute what Israel has accomplished.”
The senator applauded the Jewish state, claiming “they destroyed Hamas, they’ve destroyed Hezbollah and, [they] exposed Iran as absolutely a paper tiger.” The Pennsylvania lawmaker added that Israel’s defensive military actions against Iran revealed that the regime is unable to hold the Middle East “in check.”
“Israel did the hard things and confronted these kinds of organizations and these proxies. And that’s why I’m proud to stand with Israel through it all, until absolutely through to the last hostages are brought back home,” Fetterman said.
The post John Fetterman Says His US Senate Votes Will ‘Follow Israel’ During Trump Presidency first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Democrats’ Support for Israel ‘Absolutely’ Contributed to US Presidential Election Loss, NC Party Chair Claims
Anderson Clayton, chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party, speaks after Democrat Josh Stein won the North Carolina governor’s race, in Raleigh, North Carolina, US, Nov. 5, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Jonathan Drake
Anderson Clayton, chair of the North Carolina Democratic Party, said in a new interview that Democrats’ general support for Israel’s defensive military operations against Hamas in Gaza contributed to their poor performance in last month’s elections.
Clayton made the remarks while appearing on the media outlet Zeteo this week to explain why she believes her party lost big across the US, most notably in the presidential election. Speaking with Mehdi Hasan, a journalist and outspoken critic of Israel, Clayton argued that the Democratic Party “abandoned” wide swaths of its voter base, adding that the party’s support for Israel likely alienated many younger voters.
When asked by Hasan whether the Israel-Hamas war resonated with the electorate in North Carolina, Clayton argued that the ongoing military conflict in Gaza “absolutely” eroded the Democrats’ standing with young voters.
As The Algemeiner reported, a survey of swing voters by Blueprint, a Democrat-leaning research firm, found the issue of Israel and the Palestinians barely registered as motivation for choosing Republican Donald Trump over Democrat Kamala Harris in the presidential race. Voters were more worried about inflation, immigration, and certain cultural issues. Among those voters for whom it was a factor, the survey found more people concerned that Harris was too “pro-Palestine” than those upset she was too “pro-Israel.”
Nonetheless, Hasan, citing anti-Israel protests at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, suggested that Democrats’ support for Israel disillusioned and enraged many young voters.
Clayton defended the “Uncommitted Movement” — an effort launched by anti-Israel activists to persuade the Democratic Party to officially endorse an arms embargo against the Jewish state and not support outgoing US President Joe Biden — as “using political power in the right way.”
She added that Democrats should be “embracing” anti-Israel efforts like the Uncommitted Movement, saying “that is something that we want so see more of in our party.”
The North Carolina Democratic Party has been plagued with accusations of antisemitism in the year following Hamas’s invasion of southern Israel last Oct. 7. Members of the state party refused to support a resolution condemning the terrorist attacks in Israel, sparking outrage among Jews within the state.
North Carolina Democrats also originally voted against the creation of an official Jewish caucus, despite already having similar groups for black and LGBT party members. Clayton was notably among 16 North Carolina Democrats who refused to vote on the creation of the caucus. After facing backlash, the party eventually voted to officially recognize the Jewish Caucus in December 2023.
Ryan Jenkins, the president of the Progressive Caucus of the North Carolina Democratic Party, attacked Jewish members of his party while defending the initial decision to block the recognition of a Jewish caucus.
“They have done nothing but whine and play the victim and attack people, and we are sick of it,” Jenkins said in reference to Jewish Democrats. “Every single abstention was a no vote that didn’t want to get targeted.”
“If the Democratic Party caves to it, that’s the end of the Democratic Party. We’re not Democrats; we’re the Jewish Caucus. We’re a Zionist group. Because they control everything,” Jenkins added. “We’re telling them very clearly they are allowed to threaten and bully us and they will get their way every single time and that our rules don’t apply.”
Leaders within the North Carolina Democratic Party have also accused Israelis of being “child killers” and have publicly participated in protests condemning the Jewish state. In 2022, the party infuriated North Carolina Jews when it passed a resolution accusing Israel of being an “apartheid state” that discriminates against Palestinians.
The post Democrats’ Support for Israel ‘Absolutely’ Contributed to US Presidential Election Loss, NC Party Chair Claims first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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US Sen. Tom Cotton Introduces Bill to Mandate Federal Usage of ‘Judea and Samaria’ Instead of ‘West Bank’
US Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK) speaks during a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, March 11, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Julia Nikhinson
US Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AK) has introduced legislation that would ban the federal government from using the term “West Bank” and instead use the terminology “Judea and Samaria.”
On Thursday, Cotton introduced the “Retiring the Egregious Confusion Over the Genuine Name of Israel’s Zone of Influence by Necessitating Government-use of Judea and Samaria (RECOGNIZING Judea and Samaria) Act.” The senator argued that the legislation would “align US policy language with the geographical and cultural significance of the region.”
“The Jewish people’s legal and historic rights to Judea and Samaria goes back thousands of years. The US should stop using the politically charged term West Bank to refer to the biblical heartland of Israel,” Cotton said in a statement.
US Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY) — a stalwart ally of Israel, like Cotton — issued a statement in support of the bill, arguing that the official usage of Judea and Samaria is necessary in “defending the integrity of the Jewish state.”
“The Israeli people have an undeniable and indisputable historical and legal claim over Judea and Samaria, and at this critical moment in history, the United States must reaffirm this,” Tenney said. “This bill reaffirms Israel’s rightful claim to its territory. I remain committed to defending the integrity of the Jewish state and fully supporting Israel’s sovereignty over Judea and Samaria.”
US President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee for ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, has vowed to use the words Judea and Samaria in lieu of the West Bank.
“I can’t say something I don’t believe. As you well know, I’ve never been willing to use the term ‘West Bank.’ There is no such thing. I speak of Judea and Samaria,” Huckabee told Israeli media outlet Arutz Sheva in an interview. “I tell people there is no ‘occupation.’ It is a land that is ‘occupied’ by the people who have had a rightful deed to the place for 3,500 years, since the time of Abraham.”
If the US federal government were to adopt the official usage of Judea and Samaria instead of the West Bank, it would be aligning itself with the terminology preferred by Israel. Such a move could signal a shift in US policy closer to the Jewish state and in favor of further expansion of Jewish communities in the territory.
Critics have argued that such a shift in language could inflame tensions in the Middle East, complicating the possibility of reaching a two-state solution to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Following the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, in which the Jewish state secured its independence, the Kingdom of Jordan promulgated the term “West Bank” to describe the territory it controlled west of the Jordan River. Since Israel captured the area in the Six-Day War in 1967, it has governed them as Judea and Samaria.
The post US Sen. Tom Cotton Introduces Bill to Mandate Federal Usage of ‘Judea and Samaria’ Instead of ‘West Bank’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.