washington — Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday reiterated her call to end the bloodshed in Gaza, underscoring that the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar creates an opportunity “to end this war and bring the hostages home.”
She spoke between campaign events in Michigan, a state home to the largest percentage of Arab Americans in the country, many of whom are outraged over the Biden administration’s support of Israel’s targeting of Hamas militants, which has caused tens of thousands of Palestinian civilian deaths.
A day earlier, in a carefully choreographed move between the White House and her campaign, the Democratic nominee delivered presidential-style remarks on Israel’s killing of Sinwar, declaring that “justice has been served.”
“It is time for the day after to begin without Hamas in power,” said Harris, speaking between campaign events in Wisconsin, minutes after the White House released a statement on Sinwar’s death from President Joe Biden, who was at the time aboard Air Force One en route to Berlin for Ukraine-focused meetings with leaders.
The speed with which Harris made her statement stood in stark contrast to her Republican rival Donald Trump, who often weighs in on foreign policy issues but stayed quiet on Sinwar until late Friday afternoon when he was asked by a reporter. The former president was also in Michigan, courting Arab American votes.
Sinwar “was not a good person,” Trump said, saying that his death would make achieving peace “easier.” He praised Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu while attacking the Biden administration.
“He’s called me. I haven’t spoken to him. I’m going to speak to him probably now,” Trump said of the Israeli leader.
“Biden is trying to hold him back,” Trump said, without saying whether he was referring to Israel’s operation in Gaza, Lebanon or both. “And he probably should be doing the opposite, actually.”
Polls suggest most Americans would like to see the conflict in Gaza resolved. The candidates’ noticeably distinct responses highlight the complicated politics at play ahead of the U.S. November election.
Harris addressing vulnerability
In her remarks on Sinwar’s death, Harris employed tough language, vowing to bring to justice terrorists who threaten American interests, underscoring support for Israel’s right to defend itself, and the need to eliminate Hamas.
But as pro-Palestinian demonstrators gathered outside her campaign event, Harris also highlighted her goal for Palestinians to “realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination.”
In doing so, Harris is seeking to present a strong image as a commander in chief and address her campaign’s main foreign policy vulnerability, the crisis in the Middle East, said Thomas Schwartz, professor of political science at Vanderbilt University.
U.S. support for Israel’s military campaign has threatened Harris’ standing with key groups who traditionally vote Democratic – young, progressive voters, Arab and Muslim Americans.
With less than three weeks until the U.S. election, a winding down of the war could boost Harris’ electoral prospects, Schwartz told VOA. Whether it could save her in states such as Michigan and Wisconsin, where many voters are concerned about Gaza, is unclear, he added, but “it would help.”
In a recent interview with Fox News, Harris insisted her administration “will not be a continuation of Joe Biden’s presidency.” However, she has resisted pressure to break from Biden’s backing of Netanyahu.
She has sought to balance her loyalty to Biden with her own worldview, offering slight divergence from his positions in her public statements without committing that her administration would bring major changes in U.S. policies toward Israel.
“The work that we do diplomatically with the leadership of Israel is an ongoing pursuit around making clear our principles,” she said in a recent “60 Minutes” interview.
The vice president is frequently vocal in her empathy toward Palestinian suffering, calling out Israel via social media Sunday to “urgently do more to facilitate the flow of aid to those in need,” implying the country is not respecting international humanitarian law as it restricts food supply in northern Gaza.
On the same day as Harris’ tweet, the Biden administration sent a letter to Israel seeking to improve Palestinians’ access to food and other necessities, warning the lack of humanitarian aid could lead to restrictions in U.S. military assistance.
In the same week, Washington announced it is deploying 100 American troops to Israel to operate a Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery, a $1 billion weapon to defend Israel against missiles from Iran and its proxies, including Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Human rights activists have accused the administration of a double standard – pushing Israel to take more steps to protect civilians while supplying them with arms.
‘Most pro-Israel American president’
Trump often boasts he is the most “pro-Israel American president” and has sought to erode Jewish American voters’ support for his rival by claiming that Jews who vote for Democrats “hate Israel.”
On the anniversary of the October 7, 2023, Hamas terror attack on Israel, Trump said the American presidential election will be the most important day not only in the history of the U.S. but also Israel.
“The anti-Jewish has returned even here in America in our streets, our media and our college campuses and within the ranks of the Democrat Party in particular,” he said.
Polls show the majority of American Jews are Democrats and tend to vote for Democratic candidates.
Analysts find Trump’s relative quiet on Sinwar perplexing. Trump has said in the past he encouraged Netanyahu to “get your victory and get it over with.”
“He doesn’t seem to want to get deeply enmeshed right now,” Schwartz said. “I think he recognizes that the Middle East is more of a problem for the Harris-Walz ticket than it is for him.”
With his “America First” doctrine, Trump also must consider many of his supporters who are against American entanglements in foreign wars, said Khaled Elgindy, senior fellow at the Middle East Institute.
Trump realizes that it’s a dual-edged sword, Elgindy told VOA. “He can tout his pro-Israel credentials, but beyond that, talking about wars and counterterrorism is a kind of much stickier situation and a slippery slope perhaps for his electoral base.”
What happens next
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Sinwar was one of the main obstacles to securing a cease-fire in Gaza and his killing could accelerate diplomatic talks.
“That’s something we’re going to have to talk about with our Israeli counterparts,” he said Thursday.
It’s unclear whether there is a viable replacement in Hamas’ leadership who can negotiate a cease-fire, or whether Israel sees the urgency to return to talks.
“The focus for Israel right now is not Gaza, it is Lebanon, and it is Iran,” said Jonathan Rynhold, professor of politics at Bar-Ilan University. He told VOA that Israel sees an opportunity to weaken Hezbollah, Iran’s proxy in Lebanon, a goal shared by American allies in the region.
Matt Duss, executive vice president at the Center for International Policy, a left-leaning think tank, warned U.S. policymakers not to succumb to hawkish voices pushing to allow Israel to “reshuffle the regional security deck” following Sinwar’s death and the weakening of Hezbollah in Lebanon.
“We’ve seen these kinds of blunders before,” he told VOA, “through hubris and through overreach.”
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