On July 25, I had the honor and privilege of attending Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spectacular speech to Congress. He beautifully articulated the tremendous threats Israel is facing, the historical connection of the Jewish people to the Land of Israel, the sensitivity of the current situation, and how far Israel goes to prevent harm to civilians – beyond what any army has ever done in history.
The unprecedented applause Netanyahu received from both sides of the aisle as he articulated his vision emboldened Israel against its enemies and could have gone a long way toward ending the war with the best possible outcome for Israel’s future security. Except there was one problem. I was at the speech, but I am not the vice president of the United States and the current front-runner for the presidency. And the woman who is made a point of not being there.
Vice President Kamala Harris should have been sitting on the dais behind Netanyahu at Congress that day to demonstrate her commitment to America’s top ally. But more importantly, she ought to have been there to listen to one of the world’s elder statesmen and learn from him.
Her decision to go, instead, to a sorority sent a message to Israel’s enemies that if she got elected, God forbid, they could do whatever they wanted to the Jewish state, and she would look the other way.
Just in case Iran and its proxies did not get that message, she sharpened it following her meeting with Netanyahu, when in a completely unnecessary and frightening address to the public, she described her conversation with the prime minister of Israel as “frank.”
“I also expressed with the prime minister my serious concern about the scale of human suffering in Gaza, including the death of far too many innocent civilians,” she said in an accusatory tone. “And I made clear my serious concern about the dire humanitarian situation there, with over two million people facing high levels of food insecurity and half a million people facing catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity.”
Was Harris aware that while she spoke, there were hundreds of trucks of food and aid waiting on the Gazan side of the border that Israel let in, but the UN was not delivering? Did she not know that it was Hamas and the UN that deserved her scolding?
“What has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating – the images of dead children and desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety, something was appointed by former US president Donald Trump and were displaced for the second, third, or fourth time,” she said, lecturing and shaming America’s ally. “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.”
Harris should have attended Netanyahu's speech to Congress
Had Harris attended Netanyahu’s speech, or at least taken a few minutes to read it, perhaps she would have realized that her words were wrong, and silence would have been a much better choice.
I WANT to commend the editor-in-chief of The Jerusalem Post, Zvika Klein, for taking a bold stand against a potential Harris presidency in his most recent, well-articulated, Friday column, and American voters who read the Post should realize the importance of his message.
“Harris as president could be a disaster for Israel and the Jewish people,” was his headline on Jpost.com. Yet, Klein did not go far enough. A Harris presidency not only ‘could be a disaster for Israel and the Jewish people,’ it would be the greatest existential threat Israel has ever faced.
American voters need to wake up and realize that Kamala Harris is a dangerous radical who wants the United States as we know it brought down. Her sympathy is not with Israel but with the people of Gaza, who invaded Israel on October 7, murdered 1,200 people, kidnapped more than 250, and raped numerous people of all ages.
Kamala’s victory would persuade Iran to escalate its nuclear weapons program, its proxies to intensify their rocket fire, and Qatar to continue harboring terrorists.
The Democratic Party has replaced President Joe Biden as its presidential candidate with a woman who is to the Left of Bernie Sanders. She then added insult to injury by picking progressive running mate Tim Walz to push the ticket even further leftward while rejecting Josh Shapiro, the pro-Israel Jewish governor of the key state of Pennsylvania – which could decide the election in November. She gave in to the Squad with that choice, and she would let them decide her Middle East policy if she were elected.
Living in a democracy gives you the freedom to vote on a lot of issues that are important to you. Perhaps, if these were less sensitive times, or if there was a candidate such as Biden, with decades of calling himself pro-Israel, Jewish voters could afford to cast their ballots based on their views on abortion or the environment.
But now Israel is in the middle of a seven-front war, the world is fraught with danger, and the Democratic candidate for president is a foreign affairs novice whose views on Israel are downright scary.
Voters need to keep in mind that they will be selecting the leader of the free world, not just someone they might want to spend time with.
Presidential candidate Donald Trump has been the best US president for Israel, and voters know he can be trusted to keep both America and Israel safe. He owes it to the world to win and to stop being his own worst enemy.
Harris and Walz, by contrast, have no advantages, and letting her take over the White House would make America less safe and put Israel in great peril.
WE HAVE seen what happens when American Jews set aside their differences and unite to defeat anti-Israel candidates. Synagogues in New York that have barred politics from the pulpit for decades permitted weekly addresses against Jamal Bowman until he lost. And the diverse Jewish community of St Louis joined together last week to force out antisemitic congresswoman Cori Bush.
The time has come to do what worked in New York and St Louis on a national level in order to ensure Harris’s defeat and send a message that being anti-Israel is not an electoral asset. Harris must be beaten so handily that no party will ever again field a candidate who is not a strong supporter of the Jewish state.
Then, the next time Netanyahu or another Israeli prime minister comes to Washington, the future leaders of the US will be there as they should be, listening and applauding.
The writer is chairman of the Religious Zionists of America, president of the Culture for Peace Institute, and a committee member of the Jewish Agency. He currently serves as a member of the US Holocaust Memorial Council, appointed by former US president Donald Trump. The views expressed here are his own. Martinoliner@gmail.com