Such is the debased nature of contemporary American politics that no national elected official who has consistently opposed Israel’s dehumanization and genocidal slaughter of Palestinians has a chance of becoming vice president. But among the top contenders for the VP slot, some are worse than others on the Palestine question. And Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro is the worst.
Shapiro is, quite simply, a genocide apologist. He has compared antiwar protesters to “people dressed up in KKK [Ku Klux Klan] outfits or KKK regalia.” He called for clamping down on anti-genocide voices, especially on college campuses — free speech be damned. He supports a bill to punish colleges that boycott or divest from Israel, including financial punishments. He also condemned Liz Magill, then president of the University of Pennsylvania, after a McCarthyite congressional hearing designed to gin up dishonest accusations of tolerance for antisemitism and before she resigned. As attorney general, he went after Ben & Jerry’s when the company decided to stop selling to Israeli settlements in the West Bank.
A recent article in the Philadelphia Inquirer sheds light on Shapiro’s past racist views on Palestinians, which he fleshed out in an article he wrote in college about the Oslo Accords. In the piece, he makes clear he is opposed to Palestinian independence. His explanation smacks of imperial paternalism and anti-Palestinian racism: “Palestinians will not coexist peacefully. They do not have the capabilities to establish their own homeland and make it successful even with the aid of Israel and the US. They are too battle-minded to be able to establish a peaceful homeland of their own.”
He claimed that Palestinians were incapable of making peace, saying: “The only way a ‘peace plan’ will be successful is if the Palestinians do not ruin it.” He never apologized for those views.
Shapiro also proudly volunteered in the Israel Defense Forces…
La suite est à lire sur: jacobin.com
Auteur: Seraj Assi
