What Kamala Harris’s top potential VP picks have said about Israel and Gaza

Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania

The Pennsylvania governor, who is Jewish, has attracted more scrutiny on this issue than other potential running mates.

That’s despite Shapiro being largely in line with other Democrats when it comes to the baseline policy of US support for Israel. Like others, he affirmed his support for the Jewish state after the October 7 Hamas attacks while making clear that he supports an eventual two-state solution to the conflict.

Shapiro has also called Benjamin Netanyahu a “terrible leader,” telling NBC News that the Israeli Prime Minister has “driven Israel to an extreme that has been bad for Israel and bad for the stability in the Middle East.”

Where Shapiro has differed from other contenders is his vocal pushback against aspects of pro-Palestinian protests, including comparing some protestors to members of the white supremacist Ku Klux Klan in an April interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper.

At the time, pro-Palestinian protests had swept college campuses across the country, occasionally resulting in chaos and disruption. At some universities, classes were moved online due to administrators’ fear for Jewish students’ safety.

“We have to query whether or not we would tolerate this if this were people dressed up in KKK outfits or KKK regalia, making comments about people who are African American in our communities,” Shapiro said. “I think we have to be careful about setting any kind of double standard here on our campuses.”

Shapiro also sharply criticized Liz Magill, the former president of the University of Pennsylvania, after she gave stilted and legalistic answers to questions from House Republicans about whether calls for genocide constituted a violation of the university’s code of conduct.