US Presidential Elections: How Vice President Kamala Harris differs from President Joe Biden on Israel-Gaza conflict

With US President Joe Biden’s decision to withdraw from the presidential elections on November 5, the mantle has now fallen to his vice president, Kamala Harris. Since July, Harris has been under the microscope and speculation has been rampant over her stances on numerous issues, one of them being on the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict.

The conflict is now in its eleventh month, with no signs of being allayed. Multiple attempts at a peaceful ceasefire deal have failed as death tolls continue to mount: approximately 42,000 people have been killed so far – over 40,000 in Palestine and almost 1500 in Israel, with the conflict worsening.

When he was running for re-election, Biden had vehemently declared that he supported Israel’s right to defend itself against Hamas, the terrorist organisation whose attack on October 8 last year killed over 200 Israelis. Biden, according to TIME Magazine, is the most pro-Israel president to ever sit in the White House.

Coming now to the Democratic presidential nominee, Kamala Harris, things seem to be a little different.

HARRIS’ STANCE

Harris, though, has maintained her stance on the conflict in line with that of Biden. While supporting Israel’s right to defend itself, she was also the first senior official to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, according to TIME Magazine.

She openly rebuked the Israeli government for the“humanitarian catastrophe” in Gaza, noting that “too many innocent Palestinians have been killed.”

Even after a recent meeting with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Harris came out and highlighted the demise of “far too many innocent civilians.” She added that she “will not be silent about the suffering in Palestine.”

Now, with the death of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi, an American activist in the West Bank, Harris is inclined to put pressure on Israel to reach a ceasefire deal.

During the presidential debate with her opponent and former president Donald Trump, Harris maintained the same stance. She noted Israel’s right to fight Hamas but lamented the loss of lives in Palestine.

“Let’s understand how we got here. On October 7, Hamas, a terrorist organisation, slaughtered 1,200 Israelis, many of them young people who were simply attending a concert where women were horribly raped. And so, absolutely Israel has a right to defend itself; we would,” she said. “And how it does so matters, because it is also true that far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed, children, mothers. What we know is that this war must end, it must end immediately, and the way it will end is we need a ceasefire deal, and we need the hostages out. So we will continue to work around the clock on that,” she said.