There is a connection between the conduct of Vice President Kamala Harris and the recent pro-Palestine violence that swarmed this week around Washington’s Union Station, mere blocks from the U.S. Capitol.
Fox News has headlined:
Anti-Israel agitators stage massive protest in Washington, DC, amid Netanyahu’s US visit
Hundreds of pro-Hamas agitators gathered near Union Station in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. At least one agitator was spotted with a Hamas flag. Others ripped American flags down, burning them on the ground. A large effigy of Benjamin Netanyahu was burned.
The Fox story reported:
Anti-Israel protesters raised the Palestinian flag over Washington, D.C.’s Union Square on Wednesday during a chaotic protest in which an effigy of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and an American flag were also burned.
The protesters were demonstrating against Netanyahu’s address to Congress.
To her credit, the vice president and soon-to-be Democratic presidential nominee issued this statement:
I condemn any individuals associating with the brutal terrorist organization Hamas, which has vowed to annihilate the State of Israel and kill Jews. Pro-Hamas graffiti and rhetoric is abhorrent and we must not tolerate it in our nation,” the vice president said in the statement issued by her office. “I condemn the burning of the American flag. That flag is a symbol of our highest ideals as a nation and represents the promise of America. It should never be desecrated in that way.
The problem?
Those protestors were all leftists and “progressives.” The hard fact of the matter is that the American Left — the base of the Democratic Party — is hardcore anti-Semitic. And Harris is careful not to antagonize them.
While Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was addressing the Congress this week, Harris made a point of snubbing him, choosing to be in Indiana talking to a sorority rather than, as is custom, presiding over the session by sitting behind Netanyahu with House Speaker Mike Johnson.
The snubbing was noticed.
Former President Trump took notice, saying this of the flag burning protestors:
If those people rioting in Washington yesterday were Republicans/Conservatives, they’d all be in jail right now, facing 10 to 20 year sentences. Under this Crooked Administration, nothing will happen to them!
Exactly.
So where is the Harris demand that the rioters and flag burners and monument defacers at Union Station be arrested and prosecuted as were those who rioted on Jan. 6? Nowhere.
Recall Harris saying this of Jan. 6:
On Jan. 6, we all saw what our nation would look like if the forces who seek to dismantle our democracy are successful: The lawlessness, the violence, the chaos.
…
The answer to whether we will meet that test resides where it has always resided in our country – with you, the people,” she said. “We cannot let our future be decided by those bent on silencing our voices, overturning our votes, and peddling lies and misinformation.
Right again.
But there is a decided reason why Harris is not demanding the Netanyahu rioters be arrested and jailed for their violence. That reason is, but of course, that she cannot afford to antagonize the considerable anti-Semitic wing of her party.
There’s even more to this problem that the Democrats have with anti-Semitism.
Over in the New Republic, there is this headline:
The One Vice Presidential Pick Who Could Ruin Democratic Unity
Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro is a leading candidate to be Kamala Harris’s running mate. Selecting him would fracture the party.
And why would Shapiro — my governor here in Pennsylvania — be capable of ruining “Democratic Unity”?
Because — buckle in — Shapiro is Jewish.
The New Republic story says:
This is a hopeful moment for the whole left-liberal coalition. The vibes, for once, are good. Almost every leftist I know is excited about Harris and thinks Trump is beatable. With a newly united party behind her, there are only so many ways Harris can screw it up, but one seems all too plausible: She could select Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro as her running mate.
…
Unfortunately, Shapiro also stands out among the current field of potential running mates as being egregiously bad on Palestine.
…
Shapiro is an observant Jew with personal ties to Israel; on October 7, he tweeted, “Our family has shared many special moments in Israel and our hearts break for those living this horror now.” If selected as Harris’s running mate and subsequently elected, he would become the first Jewish vice president in American history (a distinction narrowly missed by the late Joe Lieberman when Republicans stole the 2000 election).
…
Picking Josh Shapiro as her running mate would send a very different message, and would discourage precisely the people she needs to ensure her victory over Trump.
In other words?
Josh Shapiro is Jewish. And in today’s political world, on the left there is no room for a Jew on the Democrat ticket with Kamala Harris.
Will Harris have the guts to pick Shapiro anyway? Will she have the courage at a minimum to publicly rebuke the anti-Semites in the Democrat Party?
So far — all too predictably — there is nothing but silence from the soon-to-be Democrat presidential nominee when it comes to rebuking the anti-Semitic wing of her party.
And Pennsylvania’s Gov. Josh Shapiro? He may be paying the price for Harris’s kowtowing to her party’s considerably visible base of anti-Semites. Simply because he’s Jewish.
Not good. Not good at all.