Her position is exactly the same as Joe Biden’s, with the only exception being that her rhetoric sounds more empathetic to Palestinian civilian suffering.
From AIPAC speeches praising Israel, to being part of US President Joe Biden’s fully fledged support for the ongoing genocide in Gaza, Kamala Harris is a pro-Israeli candidate in the upcoming elections.
Yet, there are already active attempts to wash away her Zionist record in the corporate media, in order to make her seem more appealing to her base.
According to Kamala Harris herself, her connection with Israel began at a young age, stating that “having grown up in the (San Francisco) Bay Area, I fondly remember those Jewish National Fund boxes that we would use to collect donations to plant trees for Israel”.
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The Jewish National Fund’s tree planting project works to cover over Palestinian villages that were ethnically cleansed between 1947 and 1949.
On top of this, during a passionate speech she delivered in 2017 to the AIPAC lobby’s annual conference, she praised Israel through and through, even going so far as to compare the civil rights movement in the United States to the creation of Israel.
Her husband, Doug Emhoff, who is a Jewish Zionist, recently spoke to the Jewish Democratic Council of America, which was later broadcasted on CNN, stating that “Vice President Harris has been and will be a strong supporter of Israel, as a secure Democratic and Jewish State, and she will always ensure that Israel can defend itself”.
Harris has also been a top recipient of funding from pro-Israel Lobby groups, with some tallying up her total donations to be around 5.4 million dollars throughout her political career.
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On top of this, she has repeatedly expressed her support for the Israelis and even privately decided to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu when he visited the US, where he delivered a war mongering speech to Congress.
Instead of condemning Netanyahu’s visit, elements of his speech, or even simply those who are backing him, she decided instead to issue an official statement condemning anti-war protesters, singling the actions of a handful of protesters to represent the majority of them.
Lately, however, there have been attempts to completely wipe her record on the issue and present her as the pro-peace candidate, while she continues to operate as Vice President for administration that continues to give Israel a greenlight to commit genocide in Gaza.
For instance, some articles in the corporate media have tried to suggest that she was one of the earliest voices in the Biden administration calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. This is false.
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When Kamala Harris became the first major Biden administration official to publicly use the word “ceasefire” back in March, it was followed by a brief pause for applause, after which she said “for at least the next 6 weeks”.
This did not represent any shift in her government’s policy position at the time, beyond using the word itself, but really what she was requesting was a 6 week truce that had already been the stance taken by US President Joe Biden himself for months.
Harris was also presented as a moderate following a speech she delivered, which came after her private meeting with the Israeli Prime Minister. She spoke of achieving a so-called Two-State solution and expressed empathy with Palestinian suffering, yet did not vow to put any pressure on Israel, limit or end weapons sales, or do anything tangible that would change the reality on the ground.
In fact, her position is exactly the same as Joe Biden’s, with the only exception being that her rhetoric sounds more empathetic to Palestinian civilian suffering.
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Through and through, she has been an avid supporter of Israel for most of her political career. She has repeated Israeli propaganda about the October 7 Hamas-led attack against Israel, in addition to the fact that she has not once stood up to her own administration while it continues to back Israel and provide it with the weapons capabilities to continue its ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip.
At this point, her policy position on the issue of Palestine-Israel is identical to that of the current US government, under which she serves as its Vice President.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
– Robert Inlakesh is a journalist, writer, and documentary filmmaker. He focuses on the Middle East, specializing in Palestine. He contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle.