Like presidents and presidential hopefuls before her, Vice President Kamala Harris, the presumptive Democratic nominee, has had to walk a rhetorical tightrope on the latest war in the Middle East.
“I’ve said it many times, but it bears repeating: Israel has a right to defend itself. And how it does so matters,” Harris said after her recent meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“What has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating,” she added. “The images of dead children and desperate hungry people fleeing for safety, sometimes displaced for the second, third or fourth time. 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.”
Palestinian American activist Sami Shaban applauded President Joe Biden’s exit from the presidential race and said he welcomes what he’s hearing from Harris.
“Even an acknowledgment of the current facts that some of these Palestinians have been displaced even two, three, four times. That’s my family,” he said. “She’s a different generation of Democrat. Biden represents a different age and Harris seems like she’s taking on the mantle understanding more of what the pulse of the Democratic Party is right now.”
Ahmad Awad is an uncommitted delegate from the Justice for Palestine, Permanent Ceasefire Now delegation to the Democratic National Convention. While he, too, welcomed Biden’s exit from the race, he said he needs to hear more from Harris before he commits to her; he has until the end of business Monday to decide.
“While Harris has called for a ceasefire as well as acknowledged the scale of the suffering in Gaza, actions are louder than words,” said Awad. “We need policy changes, not empty words so Harris now has the opportunity to shift from Biden to garner firm support of the Democratic base.”
Palestinian Americans like attorney Yusra Matari battle feelings of guilt.
“My son is home sick so I get to be home and comfort him and how is a child who might not have a single surviving relative [to] receive any comfort when they’re lying in a hospital bed just completely covered in cast because there are burns on 80 percent of their body?” she asked.
Uncommitted delegates say they want to meet with Harris during the convention, which takes place in Chicago later this month, to hear her call for a permanent ceasefire and an arms embargo, hoping to get her on the record, at least, before they can believe, let alone fully mobilize, on her behalf.
