Democratic Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro is poised to become Kamala Harris’s running mate for the 2024 presidential election. This significant political move was hinted at when Governor Shapiro canceled several fundraisers scheduled for next week, indicating Pennsylvania’s critical role in the upcoming election. The Keystone State is now a pivotal battleground for both political camps.

The strategy is clear: winning Pennsylvania could determine the election’s outcome. In the 2020 election, Donald Trump had a strong lead in the state before Joe Biden clinched victory. With Biden’s unexpected withdrawal from the race on July 21, the dynamics have shifted considerably. Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker briefly posted, then deleted, a video that seemingly announced Shapiro as Harris’s running mate, further fueling speculation.

However, Shapiro’s selection may stir controversy within certain factions of the Democratic Party. As a staunch supporter of Israel and being Jewish, Shapiro’s candidacy is likely to provoke opposition from the pro-Hamas wing of the party. This vocal group, critical of Israel, might find his presence on the ticket problematic.

What could be even more problematic is the news that broke this morning on Times Of Israel:

Pennsylvania Governor and potential vice presidential nominee Josh Shapiro tries to distance himself from a recently uncovered op-ed he wrote in college in which he identified as a former volunteer in the IDF and argued that the Palestinians are too “battle-minded” to pursue peace with Israel.

“While he was in high school, Josh Shapiro was required to do a service project, which he and several classmates completed through a program that took them to a kibbutz in Israel where he worked on a farm and at a fishery,” Shapiro’s spokesperson Manuel Bonder tells The Times of Israel.

“The program also included volunteering on service projects on an Israeli army base. At no time was he engaged in any military activities,” Bonder adds in a statement responding to an inquiry regarding the nature of his volunteer work.

In the 1993 op-ed, which dismissed the recently signed Oslo Accords, Shapiro wrote, “Despite my skepticism as a Jew and a past volunteer in the Israeli army, I strongly hope and pray that this ‘peace plan’ will be successful.”

While Shapiro’s Jewish roots are well established — including his enrollment at the Akiba Hebrew Academy in Philadelphia — the op-ed from his time at the University of Rochester appeared to be the first revelation of such direct ties to the IDF.

“Palestinians will not coexist peacefully,” Shapiro also wrote in the op-ed titled “Peace Not Possible.”

“They do not have the capabilities to establish their own homeland and make it successful even with the aid of Israel and the United States. They are too battle-minded to be able to establish a peaceful homeland of their own,” added the then-20-year-old.

The article resurfaces days before Vice President and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris is slated to announce her running mate. Shapiro has faced an aggressive campaign from far-left and anti-Israel activists, who have branded him “Genocide Josh” and warned Harris against picking him. Those critics have also faced charges of antisemitism, as Shapiro’s more recent views are no less critical of Israel than others on the shortlist who are not Jewish.

Asked about the op-ed at a press conference earlier Friday, Shapiro said, “I was 20.”

“I have said for years, years before October 7, that I favor a two-state solution — Israelis and Palestinians living peacefully side-by-side, being able to determine their own futures and their own destiny,” he added.

Earlier this year Shapiro called Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “one of the worst leaders of all time and has steered Israel in a wrong direction.”

In a separate statement to the Inquirer responding to backlash over Shapiro’s views on Palestinians when he was in college, his spokesperson said, the governor “has built close, meaningful, informative relationships with many Muslim-American, Arab-American, Palestinian Christian, and Jewish community leaders all across Pennsylvania.

“The governor greatly values their perspectives and the experiences he has learned from over the years — and as a result, as with many issues, his views on the Middle East have evolved into the position he holds today,” the spokesperson added.

With Shapiro’s voterless coronation looming, it meant the Ministry of Truth had to get back to work.

Poor guys. There’s no rest for the weary censor.

Yesterday, Wikipedia was back at it, this time deleting Shapiro’s past work with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

They just scrubbed Josh Shapiro volunteering for the IDF from his Wikipedia page.

Damage control has been turned up to the max.

Would be a shame if the Democrat base found out! pic.twitter.com/rMTFYbuhef

— Vince Dao (@VinceDaoTV) August 3, 2024

But Josh thinks JD Vance is weird for serving in the Marine Corps…