Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro decried what he called a “dramatic spike in antisemitism that is unmatched elsewhere,” adding that Jew-hatred is “not only making Jewish Americans less safe” but others as well.
“At the end of the day, you make all people less safe, because this is something I know to be true,” Shapiro told Politico. “When you allow one group to be scapegoated or targeted, you’re making every other group ultimately less safe.”
Shapiro was the victim of an antisemitic attack last year, when an anti-Israel vandal firebombed the governor’s mansion shortly after the Jewish governor held a Passover seder there.
“There is rising hatred and bigotry targeting people across the board, but it is also undeniable, and no one’s pain is greater or more important than others,” he told the magazine. “But from a data perspective, there has been a dramatic spike in antisemitism that is unmatched elsewhere, and that’s a problem.”
Shapiro blamed social media for spreading hatred more easily but also said that more education is needed.
“There’s just a lot more in education we’ve gotta do,” he told the magazine. “We need leaders of both parties, leaders at every level, to call it out when they see it and to not give it a pass because it suits their immediate political need, not give it a pass because it’s someone that they support or agree with or what have you.”
Earlier this week, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who has denounced Israel regularly, lost his primary after U.S. President Donald Trump endorsed his opponent.
“I would have come out sooner, but I had to call my opponent and concede, and it took a while to find Ed Gallrein in Tel Aviv,” Massie said when conceding the race at a primary night rally.
Chris Rabb, a Pennsylvania state representative, won his primary for Congress after accusing Israel of committing “genocide” in Gaza after Oct. 7. He made his opposition to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee part of his campaign.
Shapiro criticized those who would go after AIPAC’s right to support its favored candidates.
“What you are seeing is not ‘AIPAC money,’ or however it was termed, but you’re getting the Jews who give to that candidate who also support AIPAC,” Shapiro told Politico. “I think it’s very dangerous in our system if you are trying to silence certain voices based on their race, based on their faith, based on their particular ideology.”
A potential 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, Shapiro continued his advocacy for a two-state solution in the Middle East, as he had harsh words for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and for Trump.
“I think Benjamin Netanyahu has been a destructive force, and I think he has undermined the relationship between the United States and Israel,” the governor told the magazine. “I would argue he’s isolated Israel in the world, which presents a real challenge for them.”
“Having a president of the United States, who gives a total pass and is a rubber stamp to Benjamin Netanyahu, is not in America’s national security interest,” Shapiro said in the interview. “I don’t think it is in the interest of global stability.”
Instead, he said that the U.S. president needed to use his platform to push for Israel living peacefully alongside a Palestinian state and enjoying normal relations with the other Arab nations.
“I think the status quo is not sustainable,” Shapiro told Politico. “I don’t think it’s in the U.S. interest. I think we gotta broaden that out and be looking for a total regional peace involving all of those nations.”
