{"id":49114,"date":"2024-08-30T06:00:49","date_gmt":"2024-08-30T14:00:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/?p=49114"},"modified":"2024-08-30T06:00:49","modified_gmt":"2024-08-30T14:00:49","slug":"in-cnn-interview-harris-dodged-gaza-genocide-and-damaged-her-election-prospects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/2024\/08\/30\/in-cnn-interview-harris-dodged-gaza-genocide-and-damaged-her-election-prospects\/","title":{"rendered":"In CNN Interview, Harris Dodged Gaza Genocide and Damaged Her Election Prospects"},"content":{"rendered":"

Time is running out for Kamala Harris to distance herself from U.S. policies that enable Israel to continue with mass murder and genocide<\/a> in Gaza. Polling shows that a pivot toward moral decency would improve her chances of defeating Donald Trump. But during her CNN interview Thursday night, Harris remained in lockstep with President Biden\u2019s unconditional arming of Israel.<\/p>\n

Two weeks ago, YouGov pollsters released findings<\/a> in Arizona, Georgia and Pennsylvania, three swing states now on a razor\u2019s edge between Harris and Trump. \u201cIn Pennsylvania, 34 percent of respondents said they would be more likely to vote for the Democratic nominee if the nominee vowed to withhold weapons to Israel, compared to 7 percent who said they would be less likely. The rest said it would make no difference,\u201d the new journalism site Zeteo reported.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Results in the two other states were similar. \u201cIn Arizona, 35 percent said they\u2019d be more likely, while 5 percent would be less likely. And in Georgia, 39 percent said they\u2019d be more likely, also compared to 5 percent who would be less likely.\u201d<\/p>\n

But on CNN, Harris stuck to echoing Biden\u2019s rhetoric \u2013 calling for a ceasefire while dodging the reality that the U.S. government could force one by implementing an arms embargo on Israel.<\/p>\n

Huge U.S. shipments of weapons and bombs to Israel keep allowing it to massacre<\/a> and starve<\/a> civilians of all ages while violating federal statutes<\/a> as well as international law<\/a>. Days ago, Biden approved sending arms to Israel worth upwards of $20 billion. The transfers were called \u201csales,\u201d but as policy analyst Stephen Semler pointed out<\/a>, \u201cmost if not all of this mat\u00e9riel is paid for by U.S. taxpayers \u2013 Israel uses much of the military aid Congress approves for it effectively as a gift card to buy U.S.-made weapons.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just listening to Harris during her CNN interview, you\u2019d be clueless about the realities that the UN high commissioner for human rights, Volker T\u00fcrk, spelled out in a statement<\/a> midway through August: \u201cThe people of Gaza are now grieving 40,000 Palestinian lives lost, according to Gaza\u2019s health ministry. Most of the dead are women and children. This unimaginable situation is overwhelmingly due to recurring failures by the Israeli Defense Forces to comply with the rules of war. On average, about 130 people have been killed every day in Gaza over the past 10 months. The scale of the Israeli military\u2019s destruction of homes, hospitals, schools and places of worship is deeply shocking.\u201d<\/p>\n

Notably, Harris gave no indication of the number of Palestinian lives lost \u2013 while she did say that 1,200 Israelis, including \u201cmany young people,\u201d lost their lives on October 7. That most of the Palestinians who died were children and women went unmentioned.<\/p>\n

While the vice president said that Israelis were \u201cmassacred,\u201d she relied on passive voice to say only that too many Palestinians \u201chave been killed.\u201d<\/p>\n

After recording the interview, I transcribed it in full:<\/p>\n

CNN\u2019S Dana Bash<\/em>: \u201cPresident Biden has tried unsuccessfully to end the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. He\u2019s been doing it for months and months along with you. Would you do anything differently, for example would you withhold some U.S. weapons shipments to Israel? That\u2019s what a lot of people on the progressive left want you to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harris<\/em>: \u201cLet me be very clear. I am unequivocal and unwavering in my commitment to Israel\u2019s defense and its ability to defend itself, and that\u2019s not gonna change. But let\u2019s take a step back. October 7. Twelve hundred people are massacred, many young people who are simply attending a music festival. Women were horribly raped. As I said then I say today, Israel had a right, has a right to defend itself. We would. And how it does so matters. Far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed, and we have got to get a deal done. We were in Doha, we have to get a deal done, this war must end \u2013 \u201d<\/p>\n

Bash<\/em>: \u201cAnd in the meantime \u2013 \u201c<\/p>\n

Harris<\/em>: \u201cAnd we must get a deal that is about getting the hostages out. I\u2019ve met with the families of the American hostages. Let\u2019s get the hostages out. Let\u2019s get the ceasefire done.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bash<\/em>: \u201cBut no change in policy? In terms of arms and so forth.\u201d<\/p>\n

Harris<\/em>: \u201cNo. We have to get a deal done. Dana, we have to get a deal done. When you look at the significance of this to the families, to the people who are living in that region, a deal is not only the right thing to do to end this war, but will unlock so much of what must happen next. I remain committed, since I\u2019ve been on October 8, to what we must do to work toward a two-state solution, where Israel is secure and in equal measure the Palestinians have security and self-determination and dignity.\u201d<\/p>\n

When I heard Harris say \u201cI remain committed,\u201d I felt sure that the phrase \u201ctwo-state solution\u201d could not be far behind. For U.S. politicians and pundits, it has become a handy slogan to assert virtuous intent — rendered more and more absurd as Israel\u2019s terroristic ethnic<\/a> cleansing<\/a> persists in Gaza and escalates<\/a> in the occupied West Bank. And as genocide<\/a> continues to gain momentum<\/a>.<\/p>\n

There is every reason to believe that Donald Trump \u2013 who said<\/a> this summer that the president should let Israel \u201cfinish the job\u201d \u2013 would be even worse than Biden as an accomplice to Israel\u2019s slaughter of Palestinian people. But that\u2019s no reason to evade the unconscionable complicity of President Biden in the daily mass atrocities.<\/p>\n

A suction tube of euphemisms and evasion has captured many a partisan mind. And so it was from the podium of the Democratic National Convention, when the usually admirable Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez descended into making the groundless claim<\/a> that Harris \u201cis working tirelessly to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and bringing the hostages home.\u201d<\/p>\n

In sharp contrast, with horrors in Gaza continuing, fellow Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib has never taken the easy way out. As she has done countless times since last fall, on Thursday she sent out a truthful and disturbing message.<\/p>\n

\u201cPalestinian Americans feel invisible, with our trauma and pain unseen and ignored by both Democrats and Republicans,\u201d Tlaib wrote. \u201cWe want action to stop the horrific massacres of our families and polling shows that, regardless of political party, the majority of Americans are with us… Yet, even after over 600 weapons shipments since October, including fighter jets, high explosive mortars, and more, the Biden administration has approved another $20 billion in weapons for the Israeli military to commit well-documented war crimes and continue to murder Palestinian children and civilians.\u201d<\/p>\n

And Tlaib wrote: \u201cAn arms embargo to stop the genocide is not just the moral, just, and right thing to do. It is also good politics.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whether Kamala Harris will ever really get the message is unclear.<\/p>\n

Norman Solomon is the national director of RootsAction.org and executive director of the Institute for Public Accuracy. His latest book, <\/em>War Made Invisible: How America Hides the Human Toll of Its Military Machine<\/a> (The New Press), was published in paperback with a new afterword about the Gaza war in autumn 2024.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Time is running out for Kamala Harris to distance herself from U.S. policies that enable Israel to continue with mass murder and genocide in Gaza. Polling shows that a pivot toward moral decency would improve her chances of defeating Donald Trump. But during her CNN interview Thursday night, Harris remained in lockstep with President Biden\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":112,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-49114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"meta_box":{"disable_donate_message":"","custom_donate_message":"","subtitle":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/112"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49114"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49120,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49114\/revisions\/49120"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49114"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.antiwar.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=49114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}