Amidst Divisions and Protests: How Harris's Positions on Supporting 'Israel' and the Gaza War Fluctuate

Recent statements by US Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris have added more questions about her contradictory position on Gaza, as she calls for a ceasefire agreement in the Strip, while at the same time calling for the continuation of US weapons supplies to “Israel”.

Although both Harris and President Joe Biden have expressed their willingness to defend Israel’s security, the Vice President has shown a more explicit position regarding pressuring Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government to open the way for the entry of humanitarian aid to the Gazans and reach an agreement with Hamas for a ceasefire, according to observers.

On the other hand, the Gaza war has deepened divisions among Democrats, and since Harris became the ruling party’s candidate, she has faced pressure from activists who have called on her to move away from Biden’s policy towards “Israel”, but she has refused for several reasons, not least of which is that she is still the Vice President.

Washington is facing increasing local and international criticism, some from human rights groups, over its military support for “Israel”.

Last August, a State Department spokesman announced that the United States would provide Israel with $3.5 billion to spend on US weapons and military equipments, after Congress allocated the funds in April.

Contradictory Positions

US Vice President Kamala Harris recently confirmed that she would not suspend the delivery of her country's weapons to Israel if she won the November 5 elections, and renewed her support for Israel's right to defend itself, while expressing sympathy for the Palestinians.

During an interview with CNN, in which her candidate for running mate, Tim Walz, participated, Harris said: “I’m unequivocal and unwavering in my commitment to Israel’s defense and its ability to defend itself. And that’s not gonna change.”

“We have to get a deal done. This war must end, and we must get a deal that is about getting the hostages out,” she added.

Harris expressed sympathy for the plight of the Palestinians and their suffering, and her support for the two-state solution.

She had previously announced a position described as a sudden shift, before she was officially nominated to run for the presidency.

Harris had already echoed President Biden's comments about America's steadfast commitment and its unwavering commitment to supporting “Israel”, but she delivered a strong message about the need to end the war.

It is noteworthy that Harris was quicker than Biden to find a balance between strongly supporting Israel and expressing concerns about the killing of Palestinians.

Harris told reporters after a meeting with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu last July: “What has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating.”

“The images of dead children and desperate hungry people fleeing for safety. 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,” she added.

In a speech in December, during a visit to Dubai, Harris said Israel needed to do more to protect civilians in Gaza, as the harshest criticism of Israel from the US administration at that point.

The Biden administration has sent Israel over 50,000 tons of weapons since its assault on Gaza began last year. 

Earlier this month it approved an additional $20 billion in arms sales to the country, just days before ceasefire talks were set to resume.

Activists have repeatedly called on Harris to turn away from the policies of the Biden administration and embrace an arms embargo on “Israel”.

New Protests

Since replacing President Joe Biden at the top of the Democratic ticket, Harris has made it clear she will not consider cutting arms sales to Israel, one of the main tasks of pro-Palestinian groups. 

Harris’s steady position threatens to create the same rifts in the Democratic coalition that Biden faced before ending his campaign on July 21, despite the party’s strong enthusiasm for her nomination among Democrats.

Her insistence that she maintain the Biden administration’s policy sparked fury among advocates for Palestinian rights.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Democrat and the first Palestinian-American elected to Congress, said about Harris’s CNN interview: “It’s true. War crimes and genocide will continue.”

Campaign officials say Harris and other senior campaign officials have met with pro-Palestinian activists and agreed to hold a panel discussion on the issue at the Democratic National Convention (DNC).

Harris has appointed two women in recent weeks to reach out to Arab and Muslim American communities, but they have not been given interviews.

Democratic party insiders fear Harris could lose crucial votes in the November 5 presidential election, which is expected to be decided by a narrow margin in a handful of states.

Harris has so far mostly avoided the pro-Palestinian protests that have dogged Biden events, with potential voters hoping the new Democratic nominee will lay out a more sympathetic foreign policy toward the Palestinians.

Harris’s strong support for Israel is spurring calls for a new round of protests at her campaign stops on college campuses and at public events in the coming weeks, activists told Reuters.

Arab and Muslim Americans and their allies, who were shut out of speaking at the DNC in Chicago, plan to show up in force at protests during Harris’ debate with Republican rival Donald Trump in Philadelphia on Sept. 10, and in major cities and some college campuses on Oct. 7.

They also boycotted Harris’s speech at a rally in Savannah, Georgia, on August 29.

The past few days have seen a strong resurgence of student protests at Columbia University, a hotbed of the pro-Palestinian student movement.

Political strategists estimate nearly a million Muslims cast a ballot in the 2020 presidential election, many of them concentrated in battleground states, with about 70% backing President Biden.

Tanjina Islam, a delegate to the DNC from Georgia, said she wants to support Harris, but is devastated by the lack of concern for Palestinians.

“If Harris loses Georgia, the only reason would be that people did not go out to vote, or people voted for the third party,” she said.

A Difficult Change

Several diplomats and officials specializing in Middle East affairs have warned that changing US policy toward Israel could be politically difficult.

Philip Gordon, the vice president’s national security adviser, recently said that Harris does not support halting arms shipments to Israel as a means of pressuring Benjamin Netanyahu’s government over the war on the Gaza Strip.

In turn, Colin Clark, director of research at Harvard University, pointed out that the Israeli war on Gaza is an issue marked by a degree of divergence between Biden and Harris’ positions.

“Harris’s absence from Netanyahu’s speech to Congress may be a clear indication that she will pursue different policies if she wins on November 5,” he added.

Activists have questioned the possibility that Kamala Harris would pursue policies contrary to Biden’s policies that supported the genocide of the Palestinians, noting that there is no difference between Biden and Harris, or any other candidate, and that they are all complicit in supporting Israel.

Harris has certainly not been as vocal and a believer in Zionism as Biden historically has been.

As a US senator, Harris opposed SB-1, an anti-Boycott, Divest and Sanctions (BDS) bill backed by the Zionist lobby, on constitutional free speech grounds.

Recent polls have repeatedly shown that Democratic voters overwhelmingly support tying US military aid.

A Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) survey from March found that 62% of Biden voters said the US should stop weapons shipments to Israel until Israel discontinues its attacks on the people of Gaza, while only 14% disagreed with the statement.

The numbers from a June CBS News poll were even higher, with more than 60% of all voters and almost 80% of Democrats saying the U.S. shouldn’t send Israel weapons.

In turn, analyst Ismail Masalmani explained in a statement to Al-Estiklal that “Harris did not publicly deviate from the Biden administration’s policies on Israel during her tenure as vice president, although some saw her rhetoric throughout the war as focusing more on the plight of the Palestinians.”

He added, “Harris’s statements during her recent interview are official messages from the White House and from the potential president of the United States, which has mobilized its fleets to protect Israel.”

He also noted that “Harris, being a progressive and younger Democrat, may be more inclined than Biden to criticize Netanyahu’s policies, but this criticism will be meaningless if it does not translate into policies to end the Gaza war.”

Mr. Masalmani concluded that “apart from imposing conditions on military aid to Israel, there are several steps that Harris can take to change the nature of the relationship with the Netanyahu government without harming US-Israeli relations or losing voters.”