Vice President Kamala Harris’s decision to skip Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent speech to a joint session of Congress was glaring. At a historically sensitive time for Israel, America, and US-Israel relations, the prime minister’s speech reverberated with the objectives and moral clarity on Israel’s war against Hamas and the need to confront Iran.
The speech showed Israel’s foes, friends, and potential friends the extent of the support for Israel among a large majority of Americans.
Harris’s absence, however, crystallized growing concerns about the trajectory of US-Israel relations if she wins the elections in November.
Her statement following the meeting with Netanyahu made Israel supporters cringe. Unjustly putting the blame on Israel for “mass civilian casualties’’ and the humanitarian crisis in Gaza was almost as bad as the vice president’s outrageous comparison between Israel and Hamas.
In reality, Harris is appeasing Hamas.
Looking to end the war in Gaza is understandable, but wanting Hamas to stay in power is not.
For the war to end, Israel needs to destroy Hamas in Gaza and address the underlying poisonous ideology of the population through a process of deradicaliztion.
Rebuilding Gaza while allowing Hamas to remain in power is delusional. Gaza cannot be rebuilt as long as Hamas remains. After spending the billions of donated funds since 2007 to turn Gaza into a terrorist wonderland, the idea that this time Hamas will act differently only perpetuates the failed approach that prevailed before October 7, and will only lead to another war down the road.
HARRIS’S TROUBLING policy on Israel is not new.
During a visit to George Mason University in 2021, a student protested that Israel was conducting an “ethnic genocide in Palestine.” Instead of debunking these preposterous claims with facts, Harris responded “Your voice, your perspective, your experience, your truth cannot be suppressed, and it must be heard.’’ Now she says, “I won’t be silenced.”
Last March, Harris called for “an immediate ceasefire” in Gaza that would have thrown a lifeline to Hamas. She also warned Israel not to invade Hamas’s last stronghold in Rafah. “I have studied the maps,” she proclaimed, “and they [civilians] have nowhere to go.”
In reality, over a million Palestinian civilians evacuated Rafah before the IDF took out four Hamas battalions in that stronghold.
Most alarming, at the Munich Security Conference in February 2023, mere months after October 7, the VP advocated for a Palestinian state. This push for Palestinian statehood, without addressing the ongoing threat of terrorism and the necessity to deradicalize Palestinian society, sends a dangerous message and would be the ultimate prize for terror.
Harris commends pro-Hamas protesters
Stateside, Harris has praised pro-Hamas campus protesters as showing “what the human emotion should be” revealing either a fundamental misunderstanding of basic realities, a broken moral compass – or both.
Instead of expressing strong support for Israel – as she has consistently done with Ukraine – Harris has berated Israel for fighting back against genocidal terrorists and consistently reprimanded it over the humanitarian situation in Gaza without calling to task the real culprit: Hamas.
Harris represents a growing anti-Israel sentiment within the Democratic Party. The anti-Zionist progressives who will man the rank-and-file in a Harris administration see Israel as an imperialist, Jewish supremacist, colonial state whose evil is only rivaled by that of the United States. These are not the makings of an administration that would have Israel’s back.
ISRAEL’S TRIALS aren’t going away anytime soon. Once the war in Gaza ends – and perhaps before – Israel faces an even greater threat from Hezbollah. But the greatest threat of all is the Iranian race toward a nuclear weapon.
This is hardly the time to cast doubt on America’s commitment to Israel.
Pressuring Netanyahu won’t weaken his resolve; it will increase the terrorists’ appetite.
Instead of steamrolling the Israeli government, all pressure should be directed at Hamas, Iran’s other proxies, and the Iranian regime.
As Israel faces multiple threats on several fronts, unwavering American support is more crucial than ever. A Harris presidency risks fracturing this crucial alliance at the worst possible moment.
Without removing Hamas, the prolonged suffering in Gaza will continue and lead to endless wars. America needs leadership that recognizes this fact, as well as Israel’s strategic importance and moral standing as a democratic ally in a volatile region. Kamala Harris’s record suggests she would do the opposite, jeopardizing both Israeli and American security interests.
Appeasing Hamas is not the way to go.
The writer is a former head of the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism’s office in Washington and a senior analyst at Acumen Risk Ltd., a risk management firm.