United States Vice President Kamala Harris has pledged not to stay “silent” about suffering in Gaza, shifting emphasis to the plight of Palestinians as the de facto presidential nominee walks a fine line on the conflict dividing her Democratic Party.
Speaking to reporters after a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington on Thursday, Harris said that her commitment to Israel’s existence and security was “unwavering”, but that “far too many” innocent civilians had been killed in the war.
“What has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating. The images of dead children and desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety, sometimes displaced for the second, third or fourth time,” Harris said.
“We cannot look away in the face of these tragedies. We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering. And I will not be silent.”
Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee after President Joe Biden’s decision to end his re-election campaign, said that she had urged Netanyahu to agree to a US-backed ceasefire proposal.
“It is time for this war to end and end in a way where Israel is secure, all the hostages are released, the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can exercise their right to freedom, dignity and self-determination,” Harris said.
Harris also reiterated her support for Israel’s right to defend itself, condemned Hamas as a “brutal terrorist organisation”, and listed the names of five US citizens believed to be in Hamas’s captivity in Gaza as well as the names of two others whose remains are believed to be in the enclave.
“I have met with the families of these American hostages multiple times now, and I have told each time they are not alone and I stand with them, and President Biden and I are working every day to bring them home,” she said.
In a nod to divisions over Israel and Gaza, Harris also called on Americans to acknowledge the “complexity” and “nuance” of the conflict.
“Too often, the conversation is binary, when the reality is anything but,” Harris said.
While Harris’s remarks did not point to substantive policy differences with Biden, her forceful invocation of Palestinians’ suffering drew a contrast with her boss’s more subdued, mostly back-channel efforts to restrain Israel.
Biden’s policy on Gaza has alienated progressive factions of the Democratic Party as well as many Muslim-Americans, a large number of whom live in Michigan, a key swing state that is considered crucial to the outcome of November’s election.
Al Jazeera’s Patty Culhane, reporting from Washington, said that Harris spent more time speaking about the suffering of Palestinians than Biden has, even as she sought to bolster her credentials as a pro-Israel figure.
“She talked about the number of starvations. The number of people who are food insecure. The number of people who have had to move several times. She talked about seeing pictures of dead children,” Culhane said.
“You don’t see that in the US media. You don’t see it on the front pages of newspapers. Almost hardly at all. There is very little discussion about the plight of the people in Gaza.”
While Harris positioned herself to the left of Biden during her failed 2020 presidential run, she has a long track record of strong support for Israel.
After entering the US Senate in 2017, her first overseas trip was to Israel and one of her first acts in office was to introduce a resolution opposing a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning the country.
Harris also spoke at the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s (AIPAC) annual convention that year, telling the audience that the bonds between the US and Israel were “unbreakable” and “we can never let anyone drive a wedge between us”.
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In an interview with the Israeli news site Ynet published on Tuesday, Israel’s ambassador to the US, Michael Herzog, said Harris’s overall record was “positive”, but she had made “quite a few problematic statements” about the war in Gaza.
