Harris' Terrible Answer on Gaza

The vice president says that the war “must” end, but she won’t support doing the one thing that the U.S. has at its disposal to end it.

Kamala Harris and Tim Walz were interviewed on CNN last night. Harris’ answer on what she would change in U.S. policy related to the war in Gaza was more of the same awful administration talking points we have heard before:

BASH: OK. Let’s talk about some foreign policy issues that would be on your plate if you become commander in chief. President Biden has tried unsuccessfully to end the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. He’s been doing it for months and months, along with you. Would you do anything differently? For example, would you withhold some US weapons shipments to Israel? That’s what a lot of people on the progressive left want you to do.

HARRIS: Let me be very clear. I’m unequivocal and — and unwavering in my commitment to Israel’s defense and its ability to defend itself. And that’s not gonna change. But let’s take a step back. October 7, 1,200 people are massacred, many young people who are simply attending a musical festival. Women were horribly raped. As I said then, I say today, Israel had a right — has a right to defend itself. We would. And how it does so matters. Far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed. And we have got to get a deal done. We — we were in Doha. We have to get a deal done. This war must end—

BASH: And in the meantime—

HARRIS: And we must get a deal that is about getting the hostages out. I’ve met with the families of the American hostages. Let’s get the hostages out. Let’s get the ceasefire done.

BASH: But no change in policy in terms of arms and — and so forth?

HARRIS: No. I — we have to get a deal done. Dan — Dana, we have to get a deal done.

Harris had a perfect opportunity in this interview to put some distance between herself and the administration’s indefensible policy. Unfortunately, she squandered it with the same rote declaration of support for Israel’s defense and her rejection of using any pressure to bring the war to an end. Like Biden, the vice president says that the war “must” end, but she won’t support doing the one thing that the U.S. has at its disposal to end it. It makes no sense to say “get the ceasefire done” when the administration to which you belong continues funneling weapons to one of the belligerents and runs interference for the government that keeps sabotaging the negotiations.

The main part of her answer focused on reassuring everyone of her support for Israel and describing the October 7 attack with the catastrophe in Gaza as little more than an afterthought. It is meaningless to say that it “matters” how Israel defends itself if you will not call for cutting off weapons when the Israeli government commits atrocities with them. If Harris can’t break out of the habit of automatically invoking Israeli “self-defense” after ten and a half months of seeing Palestinian civilians slaughtered by the tens of thousands, it is hard to imagine what would get her to change.

Saying that “far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed” is meant to sound sympathetic, but it is not. Harris makes it sound as if these people had just been swept away by a storm to avoid talking about how they were killed and by whom. Everyone knows that the Israeli government is killing these people and everyone knows who is providing that government with the means to kill them, so it is cold comfort to have a top official from the accomplice government say that there have been “too many” innocents killed without mentioning the perpetrator. Would there ever be a large enough number of civilian casualties in Gaza to make Harris consider a change in policy?

Our own laws require that the U.S. halt arms transfers to a government when it is impeding the delivery of humanitarian aid and when it is committing atrocities with the weapons that the U.S. provides. The Israeli government is undeniably doing both of these things, so the law dictates that the supply of weapons must cease. It would have been interesting to hear Harris’ response if Bash had asked her why she doesn’t want to follow the law, but it never came up.

Harris had a chance to give alienated antiwar voters a reason to support her, and she blew it. More important, she had a chance to demonstrate that she recognized the failure of Biden’s policy, but she can’t or won’t admit that the president’s approach has made everything so much worse. Harris’ unwillingness to break with such a monstrous policy tells us a lot about her foreign policy judgment, and none of it is good.

The vice president’s answer went over very badly with many opponents of the war. Yousef Munayyer didn’t mince words:

That Harris had such an empty and cowardly answer on Gaza and arming Israel's genocide despite knowing full well she'd be asked it is just pathetic.

Harris doesn’t seem to appreciate how politically damaging her position on the war is. This is one of the most important tests of leadership she faces right now, and she is failing. Many opponents of the war had been holding out hope that the switch from Biden to Harris would allow for some meaningful change when it came to Gaza, but it hasn’t happened and it doesn’t appear as if it ever will.