Pennsylvania Governor and potential vice presidential nominee Josh Shapiro tries to distance himself from a recently uncovered op-ed he wrote in college in which he identified as a former volunteer in the IDF and argued that the Palestinians are too “battle-minded” to pursue peace with Israel.

Palestinians will not coexist peacefully,” Shapiro also wrote in the op-ed titled “Peace Not Possible.”

“They do not have the capabilities to establish their own homeland and make it successful even with the aid of Israel and the United States. They are too battle-minded to be able to establish a peaceful homeland of their own,” added the then-20-year-old.

  • Blackout@kbin.run
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    2 months ago

    Don’t really want a VP who likes to stomp out student’s right to free speech. He belongs on a 90s ticket, not a 2024 run.

    • EmpireInDecay@lemmy.ml
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      2 months ago

      Building on that comment, we don’t need a president who likes to stomp out students right to free speech by implying that those students are pro- Hamas, backed by Iran and Anti Semitic.

    • jeffw@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Shapiro: criticizes campus protests for their antisemitism, publicly reaffirms his commitment to a 2-state solution, and calls Netanyahu an “obstacle” to the solution Lemmy: OMG!!! Terrible human! Walz: criticizes campus protests for their antisemitism Lemmy: Yay!!!

      Edit: in case anyone actually cares about facts, the quotes are about the PLO and Arafat (you can find the whole op ed thing easily online and it’s like 1 page). He also describes his support for a 2 state solution in the article. He ends the article by saying that he hopes the two sides can get over themselves and stop fighting, despite his skepticism

      • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Shapiro: criticizes campus protests for their antisemitism

        Which is a strawman. The protests are against genocide and in large part led by anti-zionist Jews.

        publicly reaffirms his commitment to a 2-state solution

        That’s what they all say to sound like they’re pro-peace without saying anything to endanger the legal bribes from AIPAC.

        and calls Netanyahu an “obstacle” to the solution

        Gonna need a source with full context on that one.

        the quotes are about the PLO and Arafat

        Oh, you mean the ones who were actually willing to negotiate in good faith and were then replaced by the initially Israel-funded terrorist group Hamas?

        He also describes his support for a 2 state solution in the article. He ends the article by saying that he hopes

        More empty rhetoric

        the two sides can get over themselves and stop fighting

        And a colossal false equivalence to go out on. Nice. 🙄

        despite his skepticism bribes from AIPAC

        • jeffw@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          “I believe everything you say except the stuff that makes Shapiro look good and challenges my narrow worldview”

          That’s hilarious my dude, it’s pretty easy to google things.

          And denying that any antisemitism happened during the protests is laughable. There were specific cases Shapiro named. He never issued a blanket condemnation of the protests, only specific instances

          • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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            2 months ago

            “I believe everything you say except the stuff that makes Shapiro look good and challenges my narrow worldview”

            Another ridiculous strawman. Are you incapable of arguing in good faith or do you just choose not to at every opportunity?

            That’s hilarious my dude, it’s pretty easy to google things

            Says the Hasbarist whose sources are likely only pro-Israel ones such as Times of Israel, NYT, and Jerusalem Post 🙄

            And denying that any antisemitism happened during the protests is laughable

            I didn’t. I said that wasn’t what the protests were about any more than Black Lives Matter protests are about breaking things like the American Fascist Party pretends.

            There were specific cases Shapiro named.

            Cases such as the one where what Zionists had used as the basis of painting all the protesters with a broad brush as antisemites turned out to be a Zionist successfully trying to get protesters arrested?

  • Icalasari@fedia.io
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    2 months ago

    Well, I imagine having to constantly fear for one’s life due to neighbouring a country that wants you dead will make one battle minded. Maybe if the IDF and the Israeli government tried not being absolute bastards and instead sent assistance, Palestinians may start to not be battle minded?

  • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
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    2 months ago

    “Palestinians will not coexist peacefully,” Shapiro also wrote in the op-ed titled “Peace Not Possible.”

    “They do not have the capabilities to establish their own homeland and make it successful even with the aid of Israel and the United States. They are too battle-minded to be able to establish a peaceful homeland of their own,” added the then-20-year-old.

    Veep Not Possible.

    People need to take to whatever socials they might use to make it clear to the KH campaign that this asshole will tank her popularity. Just because he was much younger when he wrote that doesn’t make it ok when Israel is literally committing genocide and deliberately fouling up every opportunity for a ceasefire today. The world has had its eyes opened to what they’re doing in a way that cannot be denied ever again. This man made himself toxic with what he wrote and it’s his own fault that he isn’t qualified for the job.

    • Fredselfish@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Why do have no faith that the DNC will pick the best candidate that will help her win? I feel they will find a way to sabotage her run because they can’t let us have a progressive VP. They probably will choose this asshat or someone worse. I hope I am wrong.

      • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Why do have no faith that the DNC will pick the best candidate that will help her win

        They picked Hillary, Tim Caine, and Biden. It’s not like they have a great track record in recent years.

        I feel they will find a way to sabotage her run because they can’t let us have a progressive VP

        Or she’ll tank it herself by revealing that, pretty speeches aside, her actual policies and ideals are completely dependent on what’s most advantageous for her at any given moment.

        I hope to be proven wrong, but other than being the first presidential candidate to ever mention the security and self-determination of Palestinians, (which is admittedly huge, as far as statements go) her record so far isn’t that convincing…

  • Coelacanth@feddit.nu
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    2 months ago

    Dismissing this as something he wrote when he was 20 and neither believes in nor stands for anymore is the reasonable thing to do. But we all know politics isn’t reasonable, and particularly not when it comes to this specific issue. It’s deeply emotional, and this will look bad to a lot of voters regardless of how unreasonable it is.

    I think picking Shapiro for VP would be risky.

    • jonne@infosec.pub
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      2 months ago

      Judging by his anti-BDS stand that he still holds, and his he dealt with campus protests, I don’t think you can claim he changed his opinions.

    • oakey66@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      He still believes it whether to a smaller degree. I listened to his interview with his friend David Sirota (the point at which I stopped listening to his podcast) because they basically said the same thing.

    • EleventhHour@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      The Democrats seem to think that a “policy re-tweak” will be all that’s necessary once they get the right person. They’ve done this with Kamala, and they think it’ll work with their VP pick— I don’t think that kind of wizardry will work twice.

      Mark Kelly is, everyone agrees, the winning pick mathematically, but there are a couple of others that could work otherwise. Shapiro is on the “loser” list, and he just needs to go.

      • Coelacanth@feddit.nu
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        2 months ago

        Agreed. Though even Mark Kelly has a less than ideal stance on Gaza/Israel. Overall I think his upside outweighs it, though.

    • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      Dismissing this as something he wrote when he was 20 and neither believes in nor stands for anymore is the reasonable thing to do

      Based on what? Because he said so just in time to be considered for a prestigious gig after not recanting it at all for decades?

      Excuse me if I don’t automatically take him st his word 🙄

  • drdiddlybadger@pawb.social
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    2 months ago

    Imagine writing that publicly and living the rest of your life like it won’t come back up. Incredible.

    • krashmo@lemmy.world
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      2 months ago

      I mean, it wouldn’t come back up for the vast majority of people so I’m not sure what you’re getting at.

      • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        Probably getting at the fact that he’s been a public figure for decades without recanting it, and only does so now that it might prevent him from getting a prestigious gig as VP.

        He hasn’t changed his mind, he’s just doing damage control.

  • graeghos_714@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    I’m so glad all my thoughts from HS and college aren’t saved somewhere for people to use against who I am now. But I would really prefer someone else. I don’t like how powerful Israel is in our nations politics and would prefer someone with less connection right out of the gate unless he loudly and strongly denounce AIPAC on a regular basis

  • pjwestin@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    Shapiro is a bad pick, but Democrats always think that someone who appeals to conservatives is a good choice, so they might convince themselves that a moderate with strong support for Israel is a smart idea. Kamala has a lot of enthusiasm behind her at the moment; it would be a real shame if the Democrats found a way to kill that with a bad VP choice.

  • gmtom@lemmy.world
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    2 months ago

    For the love of God just pick Kelly as VP, he’s a fucking astronaut for christs sake

      • gmtom@lemmy.world
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        2 months ago

        No, but it’s not like he’s just a random astronaut, he’s also a well respected senator.

        • fluxion@lemmy.world
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          2 months ago

          Part of the issue is they don’t want to lose his Senate seat which was formerly held by McCain and by no means safe. It needs a strong defender like Kelly.

      • Someonelol@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        2 months ago

        It shows he’s smart and adaptable enough to handle high stakes situations, so he may be a little overqualified but would make a great pick nonetheless.

  • Media Bias Fact Checker@lemmy.worldB
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    2 months ago
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