The Shift: Harris picks Tim Walz

This morning Vice President and presumptive presidential nominee Kamala Harris selected Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate for November’s race.

Walz is in line with the mainstream of the Democratic party on Israel/Palestine. He supports a two-state solution, backed the Iran nuclear deal, and has criticized settlement expansion. He supports a ceasefire in Gaza.

He opposed the Iraq War and the Obama administration’s strikes on Syria.

He spoke at AIPAC’s annual policy conference in 2010. “Especially now when there is a little tension in the relationship, it’s important to hear what people are thinking,” he said at the time. “Israel is our truest and closest ally in the region, with a commitment to values of personal freedoms and liberties, surrounded by a pretty tough neighborhood.”

He condemned the October 7th attack and flew the state’s flags at half mast in response. “What was evident on Saturday morning was the absolute lack of humanity, the terrorism and the barbarism,” he told a crowd at the the Beth El Synagogue a few days after.

“The vast majority of Palestinians are not Hamas, and Hamas does not represent the Palestinian people,” said Walz in a post on X upon Biden’s return. “We cannot let terrorists like Hamas win.”

Walz was asked about the Uncommitted Movement after it received 19% of the vote in Minnesota’s Democratic primary. “They’re engaged,” said Walz. “We’re really proud of Minnesota’s civic responsibility. We have some of the highest voter turnouts. These are voters that are deeply concerned, as we all are. The situation in Gaza is intolerable.”

“Governor Walz has demonstrated a remarkable ability to evolve as a public leader, uniting Democrats diverse coalition to achieve significant milestones for Minnesota families of all backgrounds,” said Uncommitted Senior Advisor and Executive Director of Take Action Minnesota Elianne Farhat in a statement after Harris made the pick. “While his past positions as a Congressman may have conflicted with anti-war voters, we hope he can evolve on this issue as he has on others, such as shifting from an A to F rating from the NRA.”

“As Harris’ vice presidential pick, it’s crucial he continues this evolution by supporting an arms embargo on Israel’s war and occupation against Palestinians in an effort to unite our party to defeat authoritarianism in the fall,” she continued.

Harris’s pick reportedly came down to a choice between Walz and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro.

In recent weeks Shapiro had been criticized by progressives on a number of issues, including his stance on Israel.

In an April interview with CNN he compared campus Gaza protesters with the KKK. He also backed a bill that would penalize schools that divested from Israel. As a college student he wrote an op-ed declaring that “peace will never come” to region because Palestinians are “battle-minded.” In the Op-Dd he identified himself as a former volunteer with the IDF.

Cori Bush Primary

Tonight is the primary in Missouri’s 1st district, where Rep. Cori Bush will square off against local prosecutor Wesley Bell.

The pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC has spent more than $8 million on the race in an effort to defeat Bush.

“She sold out our president, and she sold out the city of St. Louis,” declares a recent ad bankrolled by AIPAC’s Super PAC UDP. As usual, the AIPAC ads do no mention Israel because a majority of Democratic voters support a ceasefire in Gaza.

Bell has staked out a staunch pro-Israel position. “We don’t want to see any innocent Israelis or any innocent Palestinians harmed,” he said in July. “But I think we have to understand that we do have an obligation to stand with our fellow democracies to be reliable partners to our reliable partners and stand against terrorism.”

In June progressive Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) lost his primary to a pro-Israel centrist backed by AIPAC.

“This is only the beginning,” Bush told the Associated Press last week. “Because if they can unseat me, then they’re going to continue to come after more Democrats.”

This week The Nation published a piece by Michael Berg, a Jewish activist and former political director of the Sierra Club’s Missouri chapter on why he’s backing Bush.

“Most of the attack ads and mailers criticizing this one principled vote are coming from the United Democracy Project, the GOP megadonor-funded super PAC affiliated with the right-wing American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC),” wrote Berg. “AIPAC is attacking Representative Bush because of her principled stance in opposing the Israeli military’s brutal assault on Gaza, which has killed over 40,000 Palestinians, forced most residents of Gaza out of their homes and onto the brink of starvation, and wreaked ecological disaster. Her commitment to the fundamental right to life, safety, and freedom for Palestinians and Israelis is a reason to support her, not spend millions of dollars attacking her.”