“No one from the White House called out the antisemitic slander campaign against Governor Shapiro. No one from the campaign called out the antisemitic smear campaign against Governor Shapiro. No one from the DNC called out the antisemitic smear campaign against Governor Shapiro,” Greenblatt said in a wide-ranging interview with The Post this week.
He called the episode “shameful.”
Though Shapiro held broadly similar views on Israel to Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and other Democratic veep contenders — Israel-hating progressives launched a furious campaign to scuttle him.
Shapiro, the popular, Jewish governor of Pennsylvania — a state the Harris campaign must win — was widely seen as the pick Republicans most feared.
But after he was smeared and snubbed, Jewish Americans — long a reliable Democratic voting bloc — will be up for grabs in the election, Greenblatt warned.
“I think Jews in this moment . . . they feel the ground shifting under their feet,” he said.
The ADL boss also threw a jab at “Squad” Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who he described as not been a helpful partner fighting antisemitism. Greenblatt suggested she should be more like Democratic Rep. Ritchie Torres.
“Richie Torres has sat with Jewish college students repeatedly. Richie Torres went to Columbia . . . has AOC done that?” he said.
The two pols have been in a public spat on X for days over AOC’s defense of Rep. Rashida Tlaib — who has repeatedly called for the destruction of Israel and the Jewish people.
Sitting in the ADL’s midtown offices, Greenblatt reiterated that he remains committed to a two-state solution, but concedes it’s increasingly difficult to see what that looks like.
The ADL boss warned that the growth of radical Islam in the United States was a serious issue.
Last year a poll found that 57% of American Muslims believed Hamas’ Oct 7. massacre of 1,200 Israeli civilians was “justified.”
“We do have a problem with Islamist extremists,” Greenblatt said. “You know, we’ve seen, for example, in the last six plus months, an abundance of Hamas flags, Hezbollah flags. When I was at DC for Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech, I saw ISIS flags in front of Union Station.”
Last year a poll found that 57% of American Muslims believed Hamas’ Oct 7. massacre of 1,200 Israeli civilians was “justified.”
While the ADL has long been committed to the rights of refugees in the United States and has supported liberal policies of acceptance toward migrants and newcomers — Greenblatt said that additional screening for Muslims had to be considered.
“I’m the grandson of a refugee, I’m the husband of a refugee and this organization is committed to fighting for immigrants and fighting for refugees, but that doesn’t mean we don’t need to screen incredibly carefully and be super smart about who we let in and maybe even evaluate what the appropriate criteria should be.”
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