Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza as she hosted him for what she described as a candid conversation.
“I will not be silent,” said the vice president of the United States (US), as reported by The Guardian, Friday (26/7).
In comments closely watched for signs of a shift in President Joe Biden’s policy approach, Harris said the conditions in Gaza over the past nine months have been devastating.
“Images of dead children and hungry, desperate people fleeing for safety, sometimes for a second, third or fourth time,” he said.
He acknowledged that Israel has the right to defend itself and denounced Hamas as a brutal organization that incited the invasion. But he stressed that the way Israel defends itself is important, and that it cannot ignore the tragedy in Gaza.
“We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering and I will not remain silent,” he explained.
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He called for the establishment of a Palestinian state and for Netanyahu and Hamas to agree to a ceasefire and hostage release deal to end a war that he said had resulted in the deaths of many innocent civilians.
“As I just said to Prime Minister Netanyahu, now is the time to get this deal done,” he said.
Hours earlier, Netanyahu received a friendlier reception from Biden in the Oval Office.
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“From a proud Jewish Zionist to a proud Irish-American Zionist, I want to thank you for 50 years of public service and 50 years of support for the state of Israel,” Biden said.
According to the White House report of their meeting, the two leaders discussed the ceasefire and hostage negotiations in detail. Biden expressed the need to close remaining gaps, complete a deal as quickly as possible, bring the hostages home, and achieve a lasting end to the war in Gaza.
Harris’s strong remarks reflected what may be a shift in Biden’s attitude in how he deals with Netanyahu. Some noted the significance of Harris as the one to make a public statement after she and Biden met separately with the prime minister.
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During the meeting, Harris raised the repeated displacement of Palestinians since the start of the war, which was sparked by a Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7 that left 1,200 civilians dead and 250 people taken hostage.
Israel’s retaliatory attacks on Hamas have killed more than 39,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Hamas-ruled territory’s health ministry.
Harris also recalled planting trees for Israel as a child and said that as a senator from California and as vice president, she had an unwavering commitment to the state of Israel and its people.
She said Israel has the right to defend itself and how it does so matters. Harris’ supporters say she is less likely to engage in public criticism of Netanyahu than Biden and to focus on the Palestinian civilian toll from the war in Gaza even as she maintains U.S. military aid and other support for Israel that have been mainstays of Biden’s foreign policy.
White House officials say Israel and Hamas are closer now than ever to reaching a ceasefire deal, with a senior administration official saying the framework for the deal has been agreed but serious implementation issues remain to be resolved.
“I don’t expect the meeting to produce a yes or no answer,” the official said.
Netanyahu promised total victory in the Gaza war in a boisterous speech before a joint session of Congress on Wednesday (24/7), saying there were intensive efforts to bring the hostages home but providing no details on how that would be achieved.
Harris did not attend Netanyahu’s speech to a joint session of Congress but released a cautious statement saying her absence should not be interpreted as a boycott of the event.
Netanyahu said he met with Tesla CEO Elon Musk in Washington after his speech to Congress.
“We discussed the opportunities and challenges in AI, its impact on the economy and society, and explored ways of technological cooperation with Israel,” Netanyahu said in a post on X.
Netanyahu is also scheduled to meet Trump at his Mar-a-Lago residence. The two men have had a strained relationship since Netanyahu congratulated Biden on his victory in the 2020 election, which Trump has said without evidence was rigged. (Z-3)
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