The Green Party presidential nominee, Jill Stein, is running alongside a pro-Palestinian activist and history professor at University of California, Santa Barbara, whose violent anti-Israel rhetoric has drawn concern from parents of Jewish students. 

Dr. Stein’s announcement that she chose Rudolph “Butch” Ware follows reports that she had approached several Palestinian Americans as potential VP picks, sparking suspicion that she was considering only candidates of Palestinian-American descent in an effort to appeal to voters who turned up their noses at Vice President Harris over her support for Israel. 

An associate professor of Africana studies at Rutgers University and human rights lawyer, Noura Erakat, and the executive director of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, Abed Ayoub, both Palestinian Americans, had stated last week that they were being considered for the vice presidential spot. 

Mr. Ware, who is an African-American Muslim convert, was not publicly disclosed as a contender. Even though he is not of Palestinian descent, he will offer a similar appeal to anti-Israel voters over his anti-Zionist advocacy.  

His graphic and violent approach to pro-Palestinian advocacy, though, has raised concern among the Jewish community both on campus and at large. 

During a speech he delivered at a Santa Barbara mosque shortly after October 7, Mr. Ware described Israel as a “white supremacist Zionist project” and called for the Jewish state — which he referred to as “the beast” — to be “stabbed in the heart.” 

In the same speech, Mr. Ware compared the Israeli Defense Forces’ efforts to thwart Hamas to American police officers “murdering” George Floyd, and claimed that the effort to eliminate Israel is akin to fighting white supremacy. 

His apparent call for violence against the state of Israel elicited concern and led one parent of a Jewish UCSB student to alert the university chancellor, Henry Yang, of Mr. Ware’s threatening anti-Israel speech, Daily Wire reports. In an email, the UCSB parent described the professor as “a black Muslim activist who is bent on tying BLM type actions to Palestinian causes.” Mr. Yang reportedly did not reply. 

Mr. Ware also publicly voices his hatred of Zionism — as well as his disapproval of Ms. Harris — on his social media platforms. 

The day of Hamas’s October 7 attacks on Israel, Mr. Ware seemingly celebrated the acts of terror by sharing on his Instagram, “From the River to the sea Palestine will soon be free.” 

Mr. Ware also shared on his Instagram page a video of a South African politician, Julius Malema, praising Hamas’s attack and encouraging the terrorists to continue to “confront the enemy” and “shoot to kill.” Mr. Ware expressed his frustration when Instagram later removed the video for violating the platform’s guidelines on content praising acts of terror or violence against a group of people. 

His Instagram page is also filled with attacks on the democratic nominee, with many of them focusing on her “performative” display of blackness. “You cannot play nice with these people,” he says in one video, adding that Ms. Harris is not a “friend” of “independent, proud black” voices.

While Arab and Muslim voters historically vote for the Democratic nominee for president, many have expressed criticism of Ms. Harris over her apparent commitment to upholding America’s longstanding allyship with Israel. Dr. Stein has appealed to those voters by placing her pro-Palestine, anti-Israel stance at the center of her campaign. 

The Stein-Ware ticket — though unlikely to gain any real ground in the presidential race — could have a significant impact on the Democrats’ efforts to secure one key swing state, Michigan, given that the state boasts one of the largest Arab and Muslim populations in the country.