De facto presidential nominee attracts consideration to Palestinians’ plight as she walks wonderful line on divisive battle.
United States Vice President Kamala Harris has pledged to not keep “silent” about struggling in Gaza, shifting emphasis to the plight of Palestinians because the de facto presidential nominee walks a wonderful line on the battle dividing her Democratic Social gathering.
Chatting with reporters after a gathering with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington on Thursday, Harris mentioned that her dedication to Israel’s existence and safety was “unwavering”, however that “far too many” harmless civilians had been killed within the warfare.
“What has occurred in Gaza over the previous 9 months is devastating. The photographs of useless kids and determined, hungry individuals fleeing for security, generally displaced for the second, third or fourth time,” Harris mentioned.
“We can’t look away within the face of those tragedies. We can’t permit ourselves to turn into numb to the struggling. And I can’t be silent.”
Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee after President Joe Biden’s choice to finish his re-election marketing campaign, mentioned that she had urged Netanyahu to comply with a US-backed ceasefire proposal.
“It’s time for this warfare to finish and finish in a means the place Israel is safe, all of the hostages are launched, the struggling of Palestinians in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian individuals can train their proper to freedom, dignity and self-determination,” Harris mentioned.
Harris additionally reiterated her assist for Israel’s proper to defend itself, condemned Hamas as a “brutal terrorist organisation”, and listed the names of American captives believed to be in Hamas’s captivity in Gaza.
”I’ve had an unwavering dedication to the existence of the State of Israel, to its safety, and to the individuals of Israel.”
US VP Kamala Harris says she expressed her ‘severe considerations’ to Israeli PM Netanyahu concerning the ‘scale of human struggling in Gaza.’ pic.twitter.com/1U0KErqiDL
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) July 26, 2024
In a nod to divisions over Israel and Gaza, Harris additionally referred to as on People to acknowledge the “complexity” and “nuance” of the battle.
“Too usually, the dialog is binary, when the fact is something however,” Harris mentioned.
Whereas Harris’s remarks didn’t level to substantive coverage variations with Biden, her forceful invocation of Palestinians’ struggling drew a distinction together with her boss’s extra subdued, largely back-channel efforts to restrain Israel.
Biden’s coverage on Gaza has alienated progressive factions of the Democratic Social gathering in addition to many Muslim-People, numerous whom stay in Michigan, a key swing state that’s thought-about essential to the result of November’s election.
Al Jazeera’s Patty Culhane, reporting from Washington, mentioned that Harris spent extra time talking concerning the struggling of Palestinians than Biden has, at the same time as she sought to bolster her credentials as a pro-Israel determine.
“She talked concerning the variety of starvations. The variety of people who find themselves meals insecure. The quantity of people that have needed to transfer a number of occasions. She talked about seeing photos of useless kids,” Culhane mentioned.
“You don’t see that within the US media. You don’t see it on the entrance pages of newspapers. Nearly hardly in any respect. There may be little or no dialogue concerning the plight of the individuals in Gaza.”
Whereas Harris positioned herself to the left of Biden throughout her failed 2020 presidential run, she has a protracted observe report of sturdy assist for Israel.
After getting into the US Senate in 2017, her first abroad journey was to Israel and one in every of her first acts in workplace was to introduce a decision opposing a United Nations Safety Council decision condemning the nation.
Harris additionally spoke on the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s (AIPAC) annual conference that yr, telling the viewers that the bonds between the US and Israel had been “unbreakable” and “we will by no means let anybody drive a wedge between us”.
In an interview with the Israeli information website Ynet printed on Tuesday, Israel’s ambassador to the US, Michael Herzog, mentioned Harris’s general report was “optimistic”, however she had made “fairly a couple of problematic statements” concerning the warfare in Gaza.
