Kamala Harris and her running mate Tim Walz are going to have a hard time healing the deep split in the Democratic Party over the Biden administration’s active support for genocide in Gaza, by expressing “concern to protect civilians in Gaza” while adamantly reaffirming that she “will always ensure Israel is able to defend itself against Iran and Iran-backed terrorist groups.”
A recent campaign incident in Detroit is just a small foretaste of what Harris can expect when U.S. college campuses open up in the fall. There is every reason to believe that university students, horrified at the unending genocide in Gaza, will not buy her bullshit.
The Times of Israel was particularly sensitive to the problem in an Aug. 9 article which began: “In the space of an hour or so on Wednesday (Aug. 7), U.S. Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris both listened to and shushed pro-Palestinian activists, in a raw display of the fine line Democrats must walk while war rages between Israel and Hamas and a presidential election looms.”
An hour before a campaign rally in Detroit, Harris met with pro-Palestinian activists and reportedly told them that the carnage in Gaza was “horrific,” and—according to a statement issued by the activists—agreed to discuss an arms embargo against Israel.
An hour later, the Times of Israel reported, “she shut down a pro-Palestinian chant at her rally, staring at the protesters and glowering in a clip that has gone viral.… `You know what?’ she said. `If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that. Otherwise, I’m speaking.’ She leaned back and glowered at the protesters as the rally erupted into applause and cheers.”
Will protesting university students this fall let Harris get away with telling them that if they speak out against genocide, then they are pro-Trump? Not likely.
Harris is already being subjected to hard-ball pressure from the other side. Abe Foxman, the former Anti-Defamation League national director, immediately tweeted after the Detroit rally: “If Kamala Harris does not directly and unequivocally reverse her reported promise to an anti-Israel group in Michigan that she ‘is open to a request’ to consider arms embargo to Israel, she will lose significant support from American Jews and Democrats that support Israel!”
Harris’s team snapped to attention. Phil Gordon, Harris’s national security adviser, said in a tweet: “She does not support an arms embargo on Israel. She will continue to work to protect civilians in Gaza and to uphold international humanitarian law.… The Vice President has been clear: she will always work to ensure Israel is able to defend itself against Iran and Iran-backed terrorist groups.”
