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 (IDF) during the First Intifada, as he boasted in that college piece.

Citing a New Republic article, “The One Vice Presidential Pick Who Could Ruin Democratic Unity,” vpUnity, a broad and unified progressive coalition to defeat Donald Trump, warned Harris recently that

at this crucial moment, ruining Democratic unity would be a catastrophic gift to Donald Trump. And no issue is more divisive within the Democratic party than the US-enabled Israeli war that has killed tens of thousands of innocent civilians in Gaza. Across the country, news that Governor Shapiro is under serious consideration for the VP slot has set off alarm bells among young people, racial justice organizers, Arab Americans, Muslims and others whose votes and campaign activism were crucial to defeating Trump four years ago.

Another leftwing coalition, “No Genocide Josh,” has issued a similar warning.

Jewish Voice for Peace wrote, “As an elected official, Josh Shapiro has a damning history of smearing and attacking Palestinian rights advocates and free speech. Opposition to choosing him as the VP candidate isn’t about his identity, it’s about his policies and rhetoric over the years.” (You can read the full statement here.) A group of progressive Jewish leaders oppose him. Even the Forward, does not endorse him, fearing he would ruin efforts to unite a left divided over Israel.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), America’s largest Muslim civil rights organization, called on Shapiro to apologize for his newly revealed anti-Palestinian remarks. Hatem Abudayyeh, the national chair of the US Palestinian Community Network and one of the lead organizers planning to march at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, said: “Somebody like Shapiro would be an absolute disaster since he essentially has made it seem as if the Palestinians don’t have any rights to freedom or self-determination or anything. He criminalizes our community as a whole and our protest movement.”

In a joint statement, Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) Policy Project, US Campaign for Palestinian Rights, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, and MPower Action Fund, said:

Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim voters and millions of young people, people of color, and progressive voters that Democrats need in November, have not forgotten that a genocide is being carried out now in Gaza by the Israeli military, using bombs provided by the Biden Administration. Biden’s withdrawal from the race was an opportunity for Democratic leadership to begin taking steps to close this disastrous chapter, and to show they are listening to the millions of Americans who want change. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro is not the right candidate for the job, and selecting him would be a step in the wrong direction.

Picking Shapiro as a running mate would be a gift to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and will send the message that Arab American voters in Michigan and other swing states do not matter — a message that, in addition to being morally wrong, would be strategically disastrous for a Democratic Party that needs to win Michigan. It will surely kill a significant part of the momentum that Harris has gained since her announcement, especially among young voters and Gen Z, and will alienate progressives of all kinds. The Gaza genocide has given rise to a grassroots movement that does not take lightly this level of genocidal complicity. Such choice will bear a significant political cost in Democratic politics. If Harris really wants to win back the anti-genocide vote that abandoned Biden, she needs to look beyond Shapiro for her vice president.