Vice President Kamala Harris is in the middle of her honeymoon as the new Democratic nominee for president after President Joe Biden was unceremoniously forced out. If one thinks that the most recent election in France was topsy-turvy, the American spectacle is even more so.
Harris, in one of her first official actions as the presumptive nominee, decided to boycott Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s July 24 speech to a joint session of Congress.
Even though Harris met with Netanyahu privately later in the week, her absence was a real snub. As vice president, she presides over the Senate and had an obligation to attend the speech, especially because Israel is America’s only reliable ally in the Middle East.
Harris’s absence sent all the wrong messages to America’s enemies. It is not to be taken lightly.
Netanyahu is the democratically elected leader of the State of Israel. He is also the leader of the Jewish people worldwide. Israel is in the fight of its life. When a politician decides to publicly embarrass the prime minister of Israel, it is a slap in the face to all Jews. All Jews are humiliated. It breeds antisemitism.
The Jewish people never forget these moments. We remember them for eternity.
Harris’s second big mistake came on Aug. 6, when she rejected Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro as her running mate. She had all but chosen Shapiro and planned to hold a rally in his home state to announce him as her choice. It made a lot of sense. The rally was set for Philadelphia. Shapiro did not have to go far to accept the nomination.
Despite the obvious need to win Pennsylvania, Harris was persuaded by her far-left base to cast off the very Jewish and very pro-Israel Shapiro in favor of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.
This was a massive error. Shapiro would have been a formidable opponent to the Republicans, as he had demonstrated in Pennsylvania with a 15% margin of victory.
In 2000, then-Vice President Al Gore stuck to his guns and chose Joe Lieberman, an Orthodox Jew, as his running mate. Instead of choosing a Jew and fighting antisemitism, Harris did the opposite. Instead of standing up for a Jew, she turned her back on him.
Harris would rather take her chances with a very volatile and unpredictable Muslim vote in Michigan and Minnesota than the Jewish vote throughout the United States. It will come back to haunt her.
In any case, her treatment of the Jews leaves a lot to be desired.
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