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\n Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro recently spoke about facing antisemitic threats and navigating political tensions related to his Jewish faith. The Democratic governor addressed an attack on his family home and discussed antisemitism within both major political parties.\n <\/p>\n
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PHILADELPHIA (AP) \u2014 As Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro builds momentum toward reelection in a crucial battleground state, he\u2019s speaking candidly about how his Jewish identity shapes his political journey.<\/p>\n
The Democratic leader finds himself positioned for potential national prominence while simultaneously facing personal security challenges and party tensions over Middle East policy that have put both his family\u2019s safety and political future at stake.<\/p>\n
During a recent interview, Shapiro reflected on several pressing issues:<\/p>\n
When asked about the April 13, 2025 attack on his residence while his family was sleeping, Shapiro shared his ongoing struggle with the incident.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m one of the fortunate ones in that I wasn\u2019t killed the way Melissa Hortman was or Charlie Kirk was. I wasn\u2019t injured the way Gabby Giffords or Steve Scalise were physically. But I think we also walk around with the emotional scars of it,\u201d Shapiro explained. \u201cTo me, it\u2019s less the dealing with the emotions as governor, to be honest with you, it\u2019s far more dealing with it as a dad and a husband and this idea that I\u2019m doing this work that I love, that I find great purpose in that I\u2019ve dedicated my life to, and that thing I love to do brought my family close to death, and that\u2019s a hard thing to work through as a dad, still working through it candidly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Regarding antisemitism\u2019s presence in American politics, Shapiro emphasized that the problem spans party lines.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think antisemitism is a very real problem in both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. Please don\u2019t clip my words there. It is a problem on the political left and the political right, and there should be no place for it,\u201d he stated. He criticized instances where leaders like JD Vance fail to condemn platforms given to figures like Nick Fuentes or Tucker Carlson, saying such inaction \u201cjust makes antisemitism fester on the right.\u201d<\/p>\n
Addressing critics within his own party who have labeled him \u201cGenocide Josh\u201d over his Middle East positions, Shapiro sought to separate two distinct conversations.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want to dialogue back with them, and what I say to them is, there\u2019s really two conversations here. One on antisemitism and hatred and bigotry, and on that, that\u2019s a black and white issue. There\u2019s no nuance, and we should all be able to agree on that, that antisemitism is wrong, hatred and bigotry in any form is wrong,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
On policy matters, he advocated for nuanced discussion: \u201cThe second conversation is over what should the policy of the United States be in the Middle East. And on that, it\u2019s full of nuance, and we can have honest disagreements.\u201d He outlined his vision of \u201ca safe and secure Israel side by side with a safe and secure Palestinian state, where Palestinian leadership recognizes Israel\u2019s right to exist.\u201d<\/p>\n
Concerning questions from Kamala Harris\u2019s team about whether he was \u201ca double agent for Israel,\u201d Shapiro declined to characterize their motivations as antisemitic.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo, I didn\u2019t label it that way. Look, I think the people in that process had a right to ask me whatever questions they wanted, and I was honored and humbled to go through that process,\u201d he responded, adding that \u201cthey\u2019re going to have to answer those questions\u201d about their motivations.<\/p>\n
When discussing how his faith influences his view of President Trump, Shapiro drew connections to broader moral principles.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t check with my faith as to where I\u2019m going to be on an issue. But I think there\u2019s something deeper there, right? I mean, my faith teaches me to love thy neighbor. My faith teaches me to have respect for others,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd this is a president who at every turn scapegoats others, disrespects others, attacks others, and I don\u2019t think that he\u2019s sort of violating the tenants of my faith as an American Jew, I think he\u2019s frankly violating the tenants of our shared faith and our shared humanity.\u201d<\/p>\n
He continued: \u201cMy faith teaches me to feed the hungry and motivates me to help those who are in need. And I frankly think the president could use a little bit more shared faith and shared humanity\u2019s life, and maybe he wouldn\u2019t be so cruel. This is a president who engages in cruelty and corruption, brings chaos every single day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shapiro confirmed he faces daily antisemitic threats, noting a recent arrest in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where \u201ca guy was arrested for terroristic threats and stalking me and my family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Despite increasing threats, he remains resolute: \u201cSo I think it is true that there\u2019s a rise in threats and a rise in hate directed our way, but it doesn\u2019t deter me, and in part, it doesn\u2019t deter me because I refuse to live in fear, refuse to back down.\u201d<\/p>\n
He concluded on an optimistic note: \u201cSo in some ways, even though the threats are increasing, the light I see and the joy I find in others is also increasing, and that allows me to frankly ignore the noise and ignore the hate and focus on the goodness in people.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro recently spoke about facing antisemitic threats and navigating political tensions related to his Jewish…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":121035,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[55145,55146,55139,55147,55141,55142,55140,55143,28,30,29,55144],"class_list":{"0":"post-121034","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pennsylvania","8":"tag-102-3","9":"tag-102-3fm","10":"tag-fine-day","11":"tag-fine-day-102-3","12":"tag-fine-day-fm","13":"tag-fine-day-media","14":"tag-fine-day-radio","15":"tag-have-a-fine-day","16":"tag-pennsylvania","17":"tag-pennsylvania-headlines","18":"tag-pennsylvania-news","19":"tag-weller-radio"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121034","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=121034"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/121034\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/121035"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=121034"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=121034"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=121034"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}