Vice President Kamala Harris was the first to condemn the anti-Israel, pro-Hamas protests and vandalism in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday after Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance and others criticized her silence.
Governor Harris remained silent about Wednesday’s protests – in which Union Station was defaced with anti-Semitic graffiti – until nearly noon Thursday, drawing criticism from Governor Vance.
“An anti-American and pro-Hamas mob burned an American flag in front of the U.S. Capitol, yet the woman running for president still refuses to condemn it,” he posted on X at 10:54 a.m.
Anti-American, pro-Hamas rioters burned an American flag outside the U.S. Capitol, but the woman running for president still refuses to condemn it. https://t.co/R8K9VM6HaN
— JD Vance (@JDVance) July 25, 2024
Harris’ team released its own statement on the X 15 minutes later, finally condemning the protests after many Democrats and nearly every Republican politician in Washington, D.C., had condemned them.
“Yesterday at Union Station in Washington, DC, we witnessed despicable actions and hateful and dangerous rhetoric by unpatriotic protesters,” she said, condemning Hamas officials and the flag burning.
Read my full statement regarding yesterday’s protests in Washington DC. pic.twitter.com/zJpZvdQDt9
— Vice President Kamala Harris (@VP) July 25, 2024
Her post came shortly after Jewish Insider senior national correspondent Gaby Deutch said she reached out to multiple spokespeople for Harris’ campaign for comment about the protests Thursday morning but did not receive a response.
I reached out to two spokespeople for VP Harris’ campaign for comment on yesterday’s protests, in which anti-Israel activists burned a US flag next to pro-Hamas graffiti, which the White House called a “shameful act.”
The Harris campaign did not respond to my questions. https://t.co/3VDfHVouZD
— Gaby Deutch (@GSDeutch) July 25, 2024
The attackers famously scrawled the phrase “Kill Israel” on the Liberty Bell and brick paving stones outside Union Station, and, as Breitbart News noted, the Columbus Fountain had the phrase “Here Comes Hamas” written in red graffiti.
Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg has been a vocal opponent of pro-Hamas vandalism.
No word yet from the Harris campaign. https://t.co/koiSc0ivgH
— Josh Kraushaar (@JoshKraushaar) July 25, 2024
It’s crazy that the US Capitol looks like a war zone. It’s awful. pic.twitter.com/UBM98u2Vbh
— Gabriel Dankanich (@gndankanich) July 24, 2024
Just days into the presidential campaign, Harris finds herself navigating a Democratic party divided over how the Biden-Harris administration should handle the Israel-Hamas war.
President Joe Biden had to address “pending moves” during the Democratic primary before stepping down as the presumptive Democratic nominee following pressure from Democratic Party officials, donors and Hollywood elites.
The grassroots movement, made up of young voters, Muslims, Arab Americans and progressives, began with the “Michigan Voices Are Hearing” campaign, in which voters in the state’s primary chose the “indifferent” option as a way to protest Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war, which, at least initially, was pro-Israel.
The group had hoped to secure 10,000 votes for the option, but the support of more than 100,000 Democratic primary voters smashed that goal, and the movement quickly spread to other states, including other key battleground states won narrowly by Democrats in recent elections, such as Wisconsin and Pennsylvania in 2020 and Minnesota in 2016.
“These primaries are an early litmus test for how damaging Biden’s stance on Gaza will be to his reelection. The threat to Biden’s reelection is not that anti-war Democrats will vote for Trump, but that they won’t vote at all,” Listen to Michigan said. I got it..
For example, Biden won Michigan by just 154,188 votes in 2020. The number of “non-directed” votes in Wisconsin was more than double the 20,682-vote margin between Trump and Biden in 2020, and the fear that non-voters would stay home in November seriously jeopardized Biden’s reelection.
On Sunday, after Biden withdrew and Harris emerged as the front-runner for the nomination, the Unfettered National Movement called on Harris to support halting arms sales to Israel.
“For months, we have warned that Biden’s support for Israel’s attacks on Gaza would hurt his chances of being elected,” the group said in a statement shared on X. “Now it is critical that Vice President Harris take a clear stance in opposition to Israel’s weapons of war and occupation against the Palestinian people.”
Supplying weapons to Netanyahu’s government makes a mockery of the Democratic Party’s claims to fight MAGA authoritarianism. By funding a government that commits human rights abuses, we weaken our party’s stance against far-right extremism and run counter to our commitment to democracy.
— Uncommitted National Movement🌺 (@uncommittedmvmt) July 21, 2024
