Vice President Harris said she told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday that it is time to get a cease-fire deal with Hamas done, describing their one-on-one meeting as “frank and constructive.”
Harris, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, sought to dole out in equal measure her position of supporting Israel’s right to exist and defend itself in its more than nine-month war against Hamas and her “serious concern” about the scale of suffering for Palestinian civilians.
“I will always ensure that Israel is able to defend itself including from Iran and Iran-backed militias such as Hamas and Hezbollah,” she said in remarks following her meeting with the Israeli leader.
“I’ve said it many times but it bears repeating, Israel has a right to defend itself, but how it does so matters,” she continued, saying she brought up with Netanyahu “the scale of human suffering in Gaza, including the death of far too many innocent civilians.”
Harris’s remarks, delivered from the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, served to lay out how she will distinguish herself from President Biden on foreign policy heading into her campaign against former President Trump, the Republican presidential nominee.
While the White House says there is no daylight between Harris and Biden on the message they delivered to Netanyahu, the vice president has distinguished herself as more empathetic to the plight of Palestinians among those who criticize the president for failing to hold Netanyahu to account.
“What has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating,” Harris said. “The images of dead children and desperate hungry people fleeing for safety, sometimes displaced for the second, third or fourth time. 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.”
Still, the vice president condemned Hamas as a brutal terrorist organization that triggered the war with its attack on Israel on Oct. 7.
“It massacred 1,200 innocent people, including 44 Americans. Hamas has committed horrific acts of sexual violence and took 250 hostages. There are American citizens who remain captive in Gaza,” Harris said, reading out the names of the eight men and women, alive and dead, who remain in Hamas captivity.
Harris described “hopeful movement” on talks to secure a cease-fire deal first laid out by Biden at the end of May.
“So to everyone who has been calling for a cease-fire, and to everyone who yearns for peace, I see you and I hear you,” Harris said.
“Let’s get the deal done. So we can get a cease-fire to end the war. Let’s bring the hostages home. And let’s provide much-needed relief to the Palestinian people. And ultimately, I remain committed to a path forward that can lead to a two-state solution.”