As law-enforcement authorities continue their investigation into last weekend’s arson attack at the governor’s mansion in Harrisburg, Pa., during Passover, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said on Wednesday that it would not deter him from his job as the state’s chief executive—or from practicing his Jewish faith openly.
“Nothing he could do would deter me from doing my job as governor. Nothing he could do would deter me from openly and proudly practicing my faith,” Shapiro said at a press conference with reporters in Hershey, Pa., after cutting the ribbon on a new chocolate plant for the iconic Hershey chocolate company.
Though the state police were granted a warrant for Cody Balmer’s arrest that stated that the suspect targeted Shapiro because of his views on Palestinians in Gaza, Shapiro declined to answer whether he believed he was targeted because of his faith.
“That’s a question for the prosecutors to determine,” he said. “It’s not for me to answer.”
Balmer was quoted in the warrant as saying, of Palestinians, that “our people have been put through too much by that monster.”
The warrant sought access to cell phones, laptops, tablets and any other electronic devices that could store or transmit information, as well as any writings or notes referencing Shapiro, Israel, Palestine, Gaza or the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip.
The state police was also reviewing security at the mansion with an eye toward improvements that are needed, Shapiro said. The state police announced it would bring in an outside expert to review security, which Shapiro endorsed on Wednesday.
Shapiro said he did not have a full list of what was damaged or destroyed in the fire. He used some personal religious items during the Passover Seder and did not know whether they survived, he said.
The Passover arson was the latest shock to hit Pennsylvania’s Jewish population.
“We know that the Jewish community is on edge in general,” Marcia Bronstein, regional director for the American Jewish Committee, told JNS.
Shapiro is firmly in the mainstream of U.S. Jewry, with his support for a two-state solution, according to a variety of polling. He has called Hamas “pure evil” and criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who, he has said, is “one of the worst leaders of all time.”
“When the governor becomes a target, Jewish people can imagine themselves being a target,” Steve Irwin, the Anti-Defamation League’s board chair for western Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Ohio and West Virginia, told JNS.
“In our own lives, by speaking out and becoming more visible, we fear becoming a target ourselves,” Irwin said.
Shapiro was asked what message he wanted to send to the Jewish community.
“I want to thank them for so many of the messages of support they’ve shared with us. I want them to see that my wife and my kids continue to celebrate our faith proudly and openly,” the governor said. “I want them to see that people from all different faiths have reached out to condemn this act and to lift up our family in prayer, and that’s the Pennsylvania way.”
Shapiro said something similar on Sunday after the fire was put out and his family prepared for its second seder.
“No one will deter me or my family or any Pennsylvanian from celebrating their faith openly and proudly,” he said.
Jewish leaders welcomed the message.
“This is a governor who’s proud of who he is,” Bronstein said. “It’s a very important message for students on college campuses, for all Jewish Americans to be proud of who you are and not feel threatened.”
“We’re proud that right afterwards, he got out there and told everybody that this is not going to stop us,” she added.
Those were words of solace for a community that lived through the worst antisemitic attack in U.S. history—the synagogue shooting in Pittsburgh in 2018—and has seen a record increase in Jew-hatred following the Hamas-led attack against Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
“The attack on the governor brings up feelings of PTSD, the post-traumatic stress from the Tree of Life,” Irwin said of the synagogue shooting.
“The events of Tree of Life and its aftermath, and Oct. 7” and its aftermath, impact “our ability as Jewish organizations to raise money,” he told JNS.
“Jews fear putting their names on Jewish events where they might be outed for being Jewish,” he said. “You fear seeing the reactions from your colleagues or your friends for supporting Jewish organizations. They may see your support of Jewish organizations as sanctioning the death of innocent Palestinians.”
‘One more thing that adds to the trauma’
The fact that the attack took place on Passover made it harder to process.
In the Pew Research Center’s 2020 study of Jewish Americans, 62% reported attending or hosting a Seder in the prior year. That was a greater percentage than for observance of any other Jewish holiday.
“Obviously, it’s problematic, to say the least,” Jill Zipin, co-founder and chair of the statewide political action committee Democratic Jewish Outreach Pennsylvania, told JNS.
“It did happen to a Jewish governor on Passover,” she said. “That in and of itself is quite troubling to a Jewish community that’s traumatized by rising antisemitism. It’s just one more thing that adds to the trauma.”
As for Shapiro, he is focusing on his job and his family.
“It’s very hard as a parent to answer to children, ‘Why does this kind of stuff happen in life? Why are there people out there who want to do harm to others?’” he said. “Those are hard questions to answer for kids.”
“The most important thing I can do for my kids right now is to answer the specifics that I know, so that they have the information they need and to just hug them a lot and kiss them a lot and let them know that they’re safe and they’re going to be OK,” he said.