US Vice President, Kamala Harris says that she would not be “silent” on suffering in Gaza while also touting her pro-Israel bona fides, in comments made shortly after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Her remarks drew furious Israeli complaints that they could complicate efforts to reach a deal with the Hamas terror group to free hostages and end the war in Gaza.
Speaking to reporters after what she called a “frank and constructive” meeting with Netanyahu at the White House, Harris said it was time to end the “devastating” war sparked by the Hamas terror group’s brutal October 7 attack on Israel, in comments that some saw as a sign of a possible shift in Washington’s stance as Harris plots her own path as the presumptive Democratic nominee for president.
“What has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating. The images of dead children and desperate hungry people fleeing for safety, sometimes displaced for the second, third or fourth time,” Harris told reporters.
“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.”
Netanyahu, who has been in Washington since Monday, met separately with US President Joe Biden and with Harris in the White House on Thursday. He was also slated to meet the Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump on Friday.
In a speech to the US Congress on Wednesday, Netanyahu once again stressed the need for a “total victory” over Hamas.
In her press conference after the Netanyahu meeting, Harris also said “Israel has a right to defend itself. And how it does so matters.”
The vice president noted that she pressed Netanyahu on the “dire” situation in Gaza during their 40-minute meeting in Washington, while also stressing the importance of reaching a deal to free hostages and end the war.
Harris said she “expressed with the prime minister my serious concern about the scale of human suffering and Gaza, including the death of far too many innocent civilians. And I made clear my serious concern about the dire humanitarian situation there.”
Harris said there had been “hopeful movement in the talks to secure” a hostage deal, which she said would end the war and pave the way for Palestinian statehood.
“As I just told Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, it is time to get this deal done.”
“It is time for this war to end, and end in a way where Israel is secure, all the hostages are released, the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can exercise their right to freedom, dignity and self-determination,” Harris said.
Harris also stressed pro-Israel points during her remarks, branding Hamas a “brutal terror organization” that triggered the ongoing war with its October 7 onslaught, and noting that it included “horrific acts of sexual violence.”
The vice president made a point of reading out the names of all eight American-Israel hostages still held captive by Hamas, something no other US official has done.
