Vice President Kamala Harris has expressed mixed views about Israel in recent years, but the issue is sure to come into focus if she takes over as the Democratic nominee at the same time Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits Washington.
Since joining the Senate in 2017, Harris has often championed the Jewish cause and frequently supported the U.S.-Israel alliance, but cracks have begun to appear in the vice president’s support for the Jewish state amid Israel’s months-long invasion of neighboring Gaza in retaliation for the Oct. 7 terror attack by Hamas.
Shortly after taking office in 2017, Senator Harris and her husband, Doug Emhoff, who is Jewish, visited Israel. As reported by The Times of Israel, it was Senator Harris’ third visit but her husband’s first, highlighting how important Israel is to the senator, who spent much of her childhood in the Jewish community.
That same year, Senator Harris gave her first speech as a senator before the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, where the freshman senator bragged about introducing a resolution condemning United Nations Security Council resolutions that condemned Israel, the report noted.
Israeli PM Netanyahu to address parliament in celebrity absence
Vice President Kamala Harris refused to chair a joint address to Congress by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. (Getty Images)
“I believe that a solution to this conflict cannot be imposed; it must be agreed upon by the parties involved. Peace can only be achieved through the reconciliation of differences, and that can only happen at the negotiating table,” Harris said in her speech. “Whenever any entity denies the legitimacy of Israel, I believe we must stand up and speak out for Israel to be treated as an equal.”
Vice President Harris’ friendly relationship with Israel and the Jewish community has continued since President Biden’s election, when she encouraged her husband to be the first to install a mezuzah inscribed with a Torah verse in the Vice Presidential Residence.
Emhoff has since become chairman of the Biden administration’s Task Force on Anti-Semitism, but people close to Harris say the vice president has deep roots in anti-Semitism.
But Israeli supporters worry that Harris, now the Democratic nominee, has begun to show a weakening support for the Jewish state, saying she has appeared to distance herself from Biden since the Gaza conflict began.
In March, Harris became the first administration official to call for an “immediate ceasefire” in the conflict, and later that month, in an interview with ABC News, she became the first administration official to warn that there could be “consequences” if Iraq went ahead with its planned invasion of Rafah.
“We have spoken many times and made it clear in every way that any large-scale military operation in Rafah would be a big mistake,” she told the media.
Families of US citizens held by Hamas look forward to Netanyahu’s parliamentary speech
The interview also highlighted the deteriorating relationship between Harris and Netanyahu, with the vice president avoiding a question about whether the Israeli prime minister was an “obstacle to peace.”
“I believe we must continue to do what we know is and should be a priority when it comes to what is happening in Gaza,” Harris responded. “We have been clear that too many innocent Palestinians have been killed. We have been clear that Israel and its people and the Palestinian people are entitled to equal security and dignity.”
Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at West Allis Central High School during her first campaign rally in Milwaukee on July 23, 2024. (Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images)
The ABC News interview came after Harris controversially met earlier this month with Benny Gantz, a member of Israel’s war cabinet and a longtime rival of Netanyahu. According to a White House release of the meeting, Harris “expressed deep concerns about the humanitarian situation in Gaza.”
According to the Associated Press report, Gantz visited despite Netanyahu’s objections.
Harris also appeared to express sympathy for the anti-Israel student protests that erupted across the US earlier this year, despite many Jewish students complaining that the protests were anti-Semitic.
“They are showing exactly what human emotion should be in response to Gaza,” Harris told The Nation in an interview earlier this month. “Some of the protesters hold views that I absolutely reject, so I’m not going to fully endorse what they’re saying, but we have to get past it. I understand the emotion behind it.”
Republicans slammed Harris for declining to address Netanyahu in favor of a sorority house address, calling it “disgraceful.”
Critics have noted the subtle shift, arguing that Harris has taken a less pro-Israel stance than Biden.
“Biden has made a lot of mistakes on Israel, but he’s done a lot better than Harris in terms of supporting Israel,” David Friedman, a former ambassador to Israel in the Trump administration, told The Jerusalem Post in an interview. “She’s in the progressive corner of the party and is more sympathetic to the Palestinian cause.”
Harris’ change of stance on Israel came against the backdrop of Netanyahu’s visit and the vice president’s sudden emergence as the Democratic presidential nominee. It was revealed on Tuesday that Harris would not preside over Netanyahu’s joint address to Congress on Wednesday, opting instead to keep a long-standing promise to attend the Zeta Phi Beta sorority grand boule in Indianapolis.
Vice President Kamala Harris called her husband in anger after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade earlier this year. (Reuters/Hannah Beyer)
The vice president typically sits in on joint speeches, but in Harris’s absence, Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Ben Cardin will take on that role.
Fox News Digital reported on Tuesday that aides to Harris stressed that the vice president’s decision not to preside over the speech should not be perceived as a change in her stance on Israel, noting that the vice president is scheduled to meet with Netanyahu at the White House separately from Biden this week.
Harris boycotts Netanyahu, ignores Israeli leader’s wartime speech and speaks at sorority house
The aide added that Harris is expected to reiterate Israel’s right to defend itself and reiterate her condemnation of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israeli civilians, but would also stress the need for Israel to cooperate in improving the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
But Harris’ decision to skip the speech sparked immediate backlash, with an Israeli official telling The Telegraph that Harris “cannot tell right from wrong” and that declining to host the speech was “not the way to treat an ally”.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a video message on Wednesday strongly condemning the ongoing anti-Israel protests on US college campuses. (Israeli Prime Minister’s Office)
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson also condemned the decision, accusing the vice president of abandoning America’s allies, according to a report in the New York Post.
“It is outrageous and unacceptable that Kamala Harris would boycott Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech,” said Johnson, who co-hosted the speech with Cardin. “We simply cannot accept that Democrats are making political calculations at a time when our allies are in such distress and fighting for their survival.”
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The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
