Vice President Kamala Harris’s performance for the media Thursday drew less than rave reviews from Israeli officials.
“What has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating. The images of dead children and desperate hungry people fleeing for safety, sometimes displaced for the second, third or fourth time,” Harris said after a private meeting with Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to the Times of Israel.
“We cannot look away in the face of these tragedies. We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering and I will not be silent,” she said.
The de facto Democratic presidential nominee said she “expressed with the prime minister my serious concern about the scale of human suffering and Gaza, including the death of far too many innocent civilians. And I made clear my serious concern about the dire humanitarian situation there.”
Harris, who said Israel can protect itself while adding her usual comment that how it does so is what counts, said her focus is on ending the war that began after Hamas slaughtered Israeli civilians on Oct. 7, 2023.
“It is time for this war to end in a way where Israel is secure, all the hostages are released, the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza ends and the Palestinian people can exercise their right to freedom, dignity and self-determination,” she said, according to Axios.
“And as I just told Prime Minister Netanyahu it is time to get this deal done. Let’s get the deal done. So we can get a ceasefire to end the war. Let’s bring the hostages home. And let’s provide much-needed relief to the Palestinian people,” she said.
This photo tells me Harris does not appreciate Netanyahu. Dub this her “Nasty Face.” pic.twitter.com/s2GrUWToT1
— Ed Marek (@ed_marek) July 26, 2024
Do you trust Kamala Harris?
An Israeli official who briefed the media later said that “Harris’ statement after the meeting was much more critical than what she told Netanyahu in the meeting.”
Netanyahu was displeased with Harris’s public upbraiding of Israel for the plight of Gaza, the official said.
The official said words have consequences.
“Hopefully the remarks Harris made in her press conference won’t be interpreted by Hamas as daylight between the US and Israel, thereby making a deal harder to secure,” the official briefing the media said, according to the Times of Israel.
“The more the gap widens between our countries, the more we move away from a deal and thus also increase the possibility of a regional escalation,” the official said.
Members of the Israeli governing coalition were blunt in their assessments.
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said the deal Harris is touting would be “an immediate end to the war in a way that will let Hamas regroup and the abandonment of most of the hostages.”
“Kamala Harris has shown the world what I have been saying for weeks — what is really behind the deal,” he wrote on social media. “[We] must not fall into this trap!”
“There won’t be a stop to the war, Mrs. Candidate,” National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir said.
It must be a relief for Netanyahu to speak to a true leader after talking to Harris. 😂
— Old School Eddie (@Old_SchoolEddie) July 26, 2024
White House representative John Kirby said peace deal negotiators are closer “than we’ve been before” to an agreement, but barriers remain, according to The Washington Post.
The agreement would stop fighting for six weeks, free some hostages Hamas took on Oct. 7, and pause fighting while a permanent agreement if hammered out over the future of Gaza.
