Her national security adviser offered one of her first firm policy positions on the Gaza war a day after she had two exchanges with Palestinian supporters in Michigan, one cordial and one confrontational.
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Vice President Kamala Harris campaigning on Wednesday in Detroit. Michigan has been the site of some of the strongest Democratic pushback to President Biden’s handling of the war in Gaza.
Vice President Kamala Harris’s national security adviser said on Thursday that she did not support an arms embargo on Israel, laying out one of her first firm policy positions since becoming the Democratic nominee on how she would approach the war in Gaza.
The adviser, Phil Gordon, said on social media on Thursday morning that Ms. Harris would “always ensure Israel is able to defend itself against Iran and Iran-backed terrorist groups.” He added: “She does not support an arms embargo on Israel. She will continue to work to protect civilians in Gaza and to uphold international humanitarian law.”
The assertion of Ms. Harris’s stance came as she faced pressure from the Democratic Party’s left flank to depart from the Biden administration’s response to the war. Before her surprise ascent, she had carefully navigated the party’s tensions over the war, signaling that she was sympathetic to concerns about the Palestinian death toll and suffering in Gaza while not breaking from President Biden’s firm support for Israel.
Now Ms. Harris, who has yet to lay out a broad policy agenda since beginning her presidential campaign, is under a more intense spotlight when it comes to how she would handle the Mideast conflict if elected.
That challenge became clear on Wednesday as Ms. Harris visited Michigan, home to a large population of Arab American and Muslim voters and the site of some of the fiercest Democratic pushback to the war.
Shortly before Ms. Harris coolly shut down protesters who had interrupted her speech at a rally in Detroit, she had a brief exchange in a photo line with leaders of the Uncommitted National Movement. The group helped mobilize more than 100,000 people to cast “uncommitted” protest votes against Mr. Biden in this year’s primary election in Michigan over his backing of Israel.
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Source: nytimes.com
