As Vice President Kamala Harris and her campaign team get closer to selecting a running mate, the online left has centered their hostility on one potential candidate: Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro.

The most vehement opposition to Shapiro centers on his unapologetic support for Israel, and his criticisms of extreme anti-Israel student protesters. Some have also cited Shapiro’s support for school choice as a reason, though the governor vetoed funding for a voucher program last year.

A New Republic article called Shapiro “the one vice presidential pick who could ruin Democratic unity.” Shapiro, according to the article, “stands out among the current field of potential running mates as being egregiously bad on Palestine.” 

A new online campaign from far-left activists called “No Genocide Josh” argued that Shapiro will get in the way of Harris’ efforts “to gain the trust of working-class, progressive and young voters.” It is in Democrats’ “best interests,” according to a website associated with the campaign, that the nominee “support the majority of Democrats and Americans who want social and economic justice for workers and an immediate ceasefire in Palestine.” 

The website was created on Wednesday, the day that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Congress. Planning documents from the team behind “No Genocide Josh” that were obtained by Jewish Insider reveal a highly coordinated effort by a handful of organizers — including at least one leader of the Uncommitted movement — to put pressure on Democrats to avoid choosing Shapiro. 

A messaging document shows that the group’s organizers include “Dear White Staffers,”  an Instagram account created to document workplace abuse on Capitol Hill but that has since Oct. 7 become one of the biggest anti-Israel platforms in Washington. The person who runs the account is a staffer for Rep. Summer Lee, a Pittsburgh Democrat who is one of Israel’s harshest critics in Congress. A spokesperson for Lee did not respond to a request for comment on Friday.

According to notes from a meeting held by the organizers on Thursday, the campaign believes Shapiro would alienate young voters. “Picking a candidate who TikTok turns on over his stance on Gaza would put young people right at the low engagement spot they were for Biden,” organizers wrote. They decided not to push an alternative to Shapiro because “a candidate being associated with ‘us’ and ‘leftists’ probably isn’t good for their chances,” one of the organizers noted.

Shapiro is not the only one of the Democratic running mates under consideration who has been a reliable supporter of Israel. But Shapiro is the only Jewish official being considered by Harris, which has led some Jewish leaders in Pennsylvania and politicians on Capitol Hill to question whether the hostility to Shapiro teeters into antisemitism. (Some reports indicate Harris’ campaign may also be considering Jewish Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, but on Thursday he disputed reports that the campaign had called him in the prior 24 hours to discuss it.)

“We should view Josh Shapiro’s genuine faith with respect. He should be judged on the same standard as all the other VP candidates on his position of U.S.-Israel and the protesters,” Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) tweeted on Wednesday. Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), who is Jewish, reposted Khanna’s comments and agreed: “Josh Shapiro criticizes Netanyahu and he opposes BDS [boycott, divestment and sanctions]. Like most Dems. Interrogating his position differently because the governor is Jewish is unacceptable.”

Seth Schuster, a spokesperson for the Harris campaign, declined to comment specifically on Shapiro. “The vice president condemns antisemitism in all forms and attacks based on anyone’s faith are un-American and unacceptable,” Schuster told JI on Thursday. A spokesperson for Shapiro declined to comment. 

The organizers of the “No Genocide Josh” campaign seem to understand the optics of going after the only Jewish candidate for vice president. In a memo, under a section titled “messages to avoid,” they urged supporters not to “say that antisemitism makes it risky to put a Jewish person on the ticket.” 

“In the same way that Democrats understand that it plays into racism and sexism to preemptively disqualify candidates who are people of color and/or women, we must not reinforce antisemitism by arguing against a Jewish candidate out of fear of antisemitic attacks,” the organizers wrote.

Instead, the memo urged Shapiro’s opponents to focus on his “record of demonizing protest,” highlighting his calls for local leaders and police to step in if university leaders won’t keep students safe and his public statements in December criticizing then-University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill after she testified before Congress about antisemitism. Other talking points include calling out Shapiro for supporting policies that oppose the BDS movement, and for “link[ing] BDS to antisemitism.”

Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) slammed the “Genocide Josh” campaign. “Every potential nominee for Vice President is pro-Israel. Yet only one, Josh Shapiro, has been singled out by a far-left smear campaign calling him ‘Genocide Josh.’ The reason he is treated differently from the rest? Antisemitism,” Torres said. “The antisemitic far left must never be given veto power over the selection of a presidential running mate.”

Shapiro has broad support among Pennsylvania politicians and activists. On Monday, the day after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race and endorsed Harris, the Philadelphia Democratic Party endorsed Harris — with Shapiro as their designated vice presidential pick. Pennsylvania Statehouse Speaker Joanna McClinton also endorsed a Harris-Shapiro ticket.

Jared Solomon, a Jewish state representative from Philadelphia, argued that Harris picking Shapiro would send a message to antisemites.

“If you’re thinking about the best ways to combat antisemitism, that is allowing a strong Jewish leader to show how they lead with their faith, how they have brought in their type of politics, with a Jewish politician who is religious, and made that accessible to all folks in a very diverse Commonwealth,” Solomon told JI. “I think that’s a powerful counterpunch to any issues of antisemitism.”

Still, the growing campaign against Shapiro from the anti-Israel left has raised concern among some in the Pennsylvania Jewish community.

“If you look at how the left has melted down with even the idea of Josh, what do you think they’re going to do if it’s actually him? It just doesn’t sit well with me,” said one Jewish Democratic activist in the state who is fearful that Shapiro being picked as Harris’ running mate could spark further antisemitism. (The activist requested anonymity to speak candidly about Pennsylvania politics.) 

Robin Schatz, director of government affairs at the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia, warned of possible “antisemitic rhetoric.”

“Chasing after him, whether it is because he has not denounced Israel and because he did speak up about Hamas, or just the fact that he’s Jewish — and that’s coming from both the far right and the far left — is deeply disturbing, and it veers into antisemitism,” Schatz said. “I haven’t heard a lot of that yet, but I expect there will be more coming down the road.”

The reason that some far-left progressives oppose Shapiro is the same reason Republicans view him as a formidable opponent. 

“Republicans worry about Shapiro more than the other potential VP’s. He comes off as real, and him being a pro-Israel Jew will make it harder for us to claim we’re the party to trust on standing with Israel. Forget about claiming we’re the only party standing against antisemitism,” a senior Senate Republican staffer, who had not been authorized to speak publicly, told JI. 

Biden’s decision to endorse Harris raised the hopes of some on the left who opposed Biden’s record of support for Israel since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. Several former federal employees who left the Biden administration to protest his support for Israel expressed cautious optimism that Harris might be better for their cause.

But after Harris issued a statement on Thursday condemning anti-Israel protests in Washington that saw protesters burn American flags and vandalize statues with pro-Hamas graffiti, some of those same activists already began to criticize her for raising concerns about the protesters’ tactics. 

Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD), who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told JI that Shapiro would be an “outstanding” choice. Cardin said the “Stop Genocide Josh” campaign didn’t concern him.

“I would not respond to that type of group. Look, there are differences of view, but when someone says something like that, that’s not a group that I care that much about,” Cardin said.

Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA), who is up for reelection this cycle, agreed that the campaign is not to be taken seriously. “No,” Casey told JI. “I think he’d be a very strong vice president, but I think he also would help in making sure that Kamala Harris is the next president and helping the whole Democratic Party.”

Jewish Insider congressional correspondent Emily Jacobs contributed to this report.