By Romana Rubeo 
What did Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump say about the Israeli war on Gaza during their first 2024 election debate?
Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump faced off in their first debate of the 2024 election on Tuesday night.
The event, hosted by ABC News, took place in Philadelphia at the National Constitution Center and was moderated by David Muir and Linsey Davis.
Among many other topics, the candidates discussed the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza. Both Harris and Trump advocated for Israel’s “right to defend itself”, with the latter accusing Harris of ‘hating Israel’.
Below is a partial transcript of the exchange on Palestine between Trump and Harris during the debate.
‘Right to Defend Itself’
Linsey Davis posed a question to Vice President Harris regarding the ongoing war on Gaza and the issues of the captives, including American citizens still being held in the Strip.
Davis referenced Harris’ previous comments about Israel’s right to defend itself while emphasizing the importance of protecting innocent civilians and adhering to international humanitarian law.
With nearly 41,000 Palestinians dead and no progress on a ceasefire deal, Davis asked Harris how she would approach breaking the current stalemate, given that US President Biden has not been able to reach a resolution.
Completely neglecting the historical context, Harris said that the war stems from the October 7 operation carried out by the Palestinian Resistance in southern Israel. The US vice president also reiterated unsubstantiated claims regarding “women horribly raped”.
Vice President Kamala Harris during Tuesday's presidential debate called for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, while underlining her support for Israel’s “right to defend itself.”
More here: https://t.co/Hq72Xj1J5c pic.twitter.com/nLjZWpaJat
— CNBC (@CNBC) September 11, 2024
“And so absolutely, I said then, I say now, Israel has a right to defend itself,” she said.
“It is also true far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed,” she acknowledged, stating that “this war must end.”
Harris vowed that the Biden administration “will continue to work around the clock on that.”
The US vice president went on to say that “we must chart a course for a two-state solution. And in that solution, there must be security for the Israeli people and Israel and in equal measure for the Palestinians.”
Harris, however, was keen on emphasizing that “the one thing I will assure you always, I will always give Israel the ability to defend itself, in particular as it relates to Iran and any threat that Iran and its proxies pose to Israel.”
‘She Hates Israel’
Harris’ reassurances were not enough for Trump who accused his opponent of hating Israel.
“If I were president it would have never started,” Trump said. Adding: “She hates Israel.”
In Trump’s view, this is proven by Harris’ decision to not preside over or attend Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech at the US Congress on July 24.
“She wouldn’t even meet with Netanyahu when he went to Congress to make a very important speech,” he said, noting that “she refused to be there because she was at a sorority party of hers. She wanted to go to the sorority party. She hates Israel,” he reiterated.
Trump also repeated a line he had already used at an election rally in Wisconsin on Saturday.
Donald Trump: ‘She hates Israel…if she’s President Israel won’t exist in 2 years’
Kamala Harris: "That's absolutely not true, I have my entire career and life supported Israel"
The pathetic endgame has arrived: Two candidates funded by the pro-Israel lobby, competing to show… pic.twitter.com/m8LA2Pra3t
— Afshin Rattansi (@afshinrattansi) September 11, 2024
“If she’s president, I believe that Israel will not exist within two years from now. And I’ve been pretty good at predictions,” he stated.
“Israel will be gone. It would have never happened. Iran was broke under Donald Trump. Now Iran has $300 billion because they took off all the sanctions that I had.”
According to Trump, when he was president, “Iran had no money for Hamas or Hezbollah or any of the 28 different spheres of terror. (…) They had no money for terror. They were broke. Now they’re a rich nation.”
Harris was quick to reject Trump’s allegations.
“That’s absolutely not true. I have my entire career and life supported Israel and the Israeli people,” she said, accusing Trump of wanting to “distract from reality”.
‘Partner in Crime’
A few hours before the debate, a Geneva-based human rights group accused the US of being “a partner” in the “crime” committed on Tuesday when Israeli missiles struck a humanitarian safe zone in Gaza killing at least 40 people.
According to the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor, Israel targeted the tented camp in the al-Mawasi area of Khan Yunis at midnight as civilians were sleeping, using three US-made 2,000-pound (900 kg) MK-84 bombs.
‘Partner in This Crime’ – Euro-Med Says Israel Dropped US-Made Bombs on Tented Gaza Camp
“The bombs caused craters as deep as several meters, burying about 20 tents with families inside,” EuroMed said in a statement. “Many tents, with entire families inside, were buried under the sand.”
According to several media reports, the US transferred, in 2023 and 2024, more than 14,000 MK-84 bombs to Israel, the Anadolu news agency said.
Ongoing Genocide
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 41,020 Palestinians have been killed, and 94,925 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
– Romana Rubeo is an Italian writer and the managing editor of The Palestine Chronicle. Her articles appeared in many online newspapers and academic journals. She holds a Master’s Degree in Foreign Languages and Literature and specializes in audio-visual and journalism translation.
two puppeticians in the strings of the zionist lobby. they are solely competing over who kisses the zionists butts more than the other. For the Palestinians, the outcome of this farce is the same. The road to freedom goes through armed resistance.
The debate just epitomised the impoverished state of American politics and again reflected the inordinately powerful influence of the Zionist lobby. It held out no real hope for the Palestinians, let alone the American people. The contest between Tweedledumb and Tweedledumber is characterised by divisive rhetoric, vitriol, a lack of substance, political or moral, and, de facto, mutual complicity in genocide. Politicians of statesmanship, integrity and decency, such as the late John McCain, are few and far between, their voices drowned out by the raucous baying of a partisan rabble that kowtows to Zionism. What a spectacle!