Speaking to the press at the Minnesota State Fair on Sunday, a jovial Gov. Tim Walz was asked, “What’s your reaction to the six hostages being found dead in Gaza?”
As we know, the reporter was referring to the IDF’s grim discovery of the bodies of six hostages, including one American, who had been brutally murdered by Hamas savages, inside a terror tunnel on Saturday night. Vijeta Uniyal covered this story here.
He clearly heard the question as he was looking directly at the reporter who asked it. His earlier smile instantly vanished. Fortunately for Walz, he was rescued by an attentive aide who signaled that it was time to go. Walz abruptly raised his hand, said “Thanks everybody,” and walked away.
The optics of his cowardly – and callous – handling of this question were terrible. And hours after a clip of the exchange went viral on social media, Walz posted the following message on X: “The anguish of losing a child is something no family should have to endure. Gwen and I send our deepest condolences to the Goldberg-Polin family, after Hamas’ murder of their son Hersh. Hamas is a brutal terrorist organization — and we condemn their continued atrocities against both Americans and Israelis in the strongest possible terms.”
It was too little, too late, and unfortunately for Walz, Americans know when they’re being lied to.
None of us can claim to be surprised by Walz’s refusal to answer the reporter’s question. His far-Left world view is well-known. Among the deluge of reports about Walz’s radical past after his selection as Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate, was one about his relationship with Imam Asad Zaman of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota.
According to The Washington Examiner, “on at least five occasions as governor of Minnesota, [Walz] hosted a Muslim cleric who celebrated Hamas‘s Oct. 7 attack last year on Israel and promoted a film popular among Neo-Nazis that glorifies Adolf Hitler.”
The Examiner reported that Zaman has published official Hamas press releases and blog posts from “antisemitic websites slamming Jews” on his Facebook page. A spokesperson from the Anti-Defamation League told the Examiner, “Imam Zaman has a troubling history of playing into classic anti-Jewish themes and justifying violence against Israel. … He also has justified violence against Israel, including from terror groups.”
There is no question where the governor’s sympathies lie.
Harris had a choice to make and, in a nod to her progressive base, she chose Walz over popular Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who is Jewish. Recent polling data indicates this was a mistake.
First, RealClearPolitics’ Tom Bevan pointed out that Harris’s lead in Minnesota is now “half of what it was a month ago before she added Walz to the ticket.”
And, perhaps most telling of all, were the results of several hypothetical matchups in a survey of likely Pennsylvania voters conducted last week by polling firm Wick Insights. Independent journalist Mark Halperin, who had commissioned the poll, invited Wick’s chief pollster David Burrell onto his Friday podcast to discuss the results.
First, Wick asked participants whom they would support between a Republican ticket of Trump/Vance and a Democratic ticket of Harris/Walz. Harris led by a margin of 49% to 48% under that scenario.
Next, Wick replaced Trump’s current running mate, Sen. J.D. Vance, on the Republican ticket with former GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley. Harris’s lead increased by 2 points, a margin of 48% to 46%.
Finally, participants were asked to choose between a Trump/Vance ticket and a Harris/Shapiro ticket. Harris’s lead increased significantly. She led Trump by a margin of 51 to 45.
Looks like Harris should have ignored the left-wing of the Democratic Party and chosen Shapiro. Although her choice of Walz may have satisfied her base, she surely knows that the majority of Americans are pro-Israel.
(The relevant portion begins at 4:55 in the video below.)
Elizabeth writes commentary for The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation and a member of the Editorial Board at The Sixteenth Council, a London think tank. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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