SAEDNEWS: Palestinian rights advocates demand action as the vice president and likely Democratic nominee expresses sympathy for Gaza.
According to SAEDNEWS, Vice President Kamala Harris says she will “not be silent” in the face of Palestinian suffering, as Israel’s war in Gaza rages on. But Palestinian rights advocates want to know exactly what that means for United States foreign policy.
The vice president — and the Democrats’ likely nominee for the presidency — emphasised the plight of Palestinians in Gaza after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday. Nevertheless, she pledged ongoing support for Israel.
Activists say expressing sympathy for Palestinians without pursuing a meaningful shift away from the US’s policy of unconditional military and diplomatic support will not help Harris win back voters alienated by President Joe Biden’s approach to the war.
“Without an actual commitment to stop killing the children of Gaza, I don’t care about her empathy for them,” said Eman Abdelhadi, a sociologist at the University of Chicago. She stressed that the US bears “responsibility” for the atrocities committed against Palestinians.
“To be empathetic to someone that you’re shooting in the head is not exactly laudable. We don’t need empathy from these people. We need them to stop providing the weapons and the money that is actively killing the people that they’re supposedly empathising with.”
Moreover, while Harris’s comments have been characterised as a shift away from Biden’s rhetoric, critics point out the vice president did not articulate any new policy positions.
After holding talks with Netanyahu on Thursday, Harris delivered a televised statement on the conflict where she reasserted her “unwavering commitment” to Israel and promised to always ensure that the country can “defend itself”.
The vice president then pivoted to describing the horrific conditions in Gaza without naming Israel as the party responsible for the humanitarian crisis there.
“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,” Harris said, calling the war “devastating”.
“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.”
She also voiced support for Biden’s multi-phased ceasefire proposal to achieve an end to the war and release Israeli captives in Gaza. Israel and Hamas have been negotiating indirectly for months to finalise the agreement, but a solution has remained elusive so far.
At least on the surface, Harris’s tone appeared like a departure from Biden’s pro-Israel statements. “Harris created distance from Biden on Gaza by emphasizing Palestinian suffering,” a Washington Post headline read after the vice president’s comments.
