Name: Hear what VP Harris says she told Israel's Netanyahu
Uploaded: 2024-07-26T01:40:29.000Z
Duration: 11 min 1 s
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I told him that I will always ensure that Israel is able to defend itself, including from Iran and Iran-backed militias such as Hamas and Hezbollah.

From when I was a young girl collecting funds to plant trees for Israel, to my time in the United States Senate and now at the White House, I have had an unwavering commitment to the existence of the State of Israel, to its security, and to the people of Israel.

I've said it many times, but it bears repeating, Israel has a right to defend itself, and how it does so matters.

Hamas is a brutal terrorist organization.

On October 7, Hamas triggered this war when it massacred 1,200 innocent people, including 44 Americans.

Hamas has committed horrific acts of sexual violence and took 250 hostages.

There are American citizens who remain captive in Gaza, Sagi Dekho Hen, Hirsch Goldberg Polin, Idan Alexander, Keith Siegel, Omid Omer Nutra, and the remains of American citizens Judy Weinstein, God Haggai, and Itay Hen are still being held in Gaza.

I have met with the families of these American hostages multiple times now, and I've told them each time they are not alone and I stand with them.

And President Biden and I are working every day to bring them home.

I also expressed with the Prime Minister my serious concern about the scale of human suffering in Gaza, including the death of far too many innocent civilians.

And I made clear my serious concern about the dire humanitarian situation there, with over two million people facing high levels of food insecurity and half a million people facing catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity.

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.

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.

Thanks to the leadership of our President Joe Biden, there is a deal on the table for a ceasefire and a hostage deal.

And it is important that we recall what the deal involves.

The first phase of the deal would bring about a full ceasefire, including a withdrawal of the Israeli military from population centers in Gaza.

In the second phase, the Israeli military would withdraw from Gaza entirely, and it would lead to a permanent end to the hostilities.

It is time for this war to end, and 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.

There has been hopeful movement in the talks to secure an agreement on this deal.

And as I just told Prime Minister Netanyahu, it is time to get this deal done.

So, to everyone who has been calling for a ceasefire, and to everyone who yearns for peace, I see you and I hear you.

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 two-state solution.

I know right now it is hard to conceive of that prospect, but a two-state solution is the only path that ensures Israel remains a secure Jewish and democratic state, and one that ensures Palestinians can finally realize the freedom, security, and prosperity that they rightly deserve.

It is important for the American people to remember, the war in Gaza is not a binary issue.

However, too often, the conversation is binary, when the reality is anything but.

So I ask my fellow Americans to help encourage efforts to acknowledge the complexity, the nuance, and the history of the region.

Let us all condemn terrorism and violence.

Let us all do what we can to prevent the suffering of innocent civilians, and let us condemn anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and hate of any kind.

After your meeting, are you convinced that the Prime Minister would like a peace-fire deal?

There you heard Vice President Harris, as well as Presidential candidate Harris, as of this week, talking after meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, saying, Israel has a right to defend itself, but we cannot allow ourselves to be numb to the suffering in Gaza.

She said, it is time for the war to end, and she conveyed that to Benjamin Netanyahu, as well.

Let's bring in Kayla Tausche from the White House.

Kayla, some strong words there from the Vice President after her meeting.

And it obviously is coming at an interesting political moment for her, as well.

Pam, it's been the clearest distillation yet that we've seen of Vice President Harris' own belief and views on this situation.

And I think there's one line in particular that sums it up best, and that is toward the top, when she said, Israel has a right to defend itself, and how it does so matters.

She's speaking to those who want to see Israel defend itself and want this war to end, and also those who want to seek peace.

And she says in no uncertain terms, I hear you and I see you, to those on all sides of this argument and this debate that has inflamed divisions in this country, as well as around the world.

These are the most forceful words and perhaps the clearest position that's been laid out on this situation from this administration so far, and certainly from the vice president herself.

And it's worth noting that, because in listening to some of her comments up until this point, aides of hers, administration officials, and those who know her very well have noted that substantively she's not different from President Biden on this topic, but tonally, rhetorically she is, that she has a tendency to speak more forcefully on these issues that at times has raised eyebrows inside the White House, but then when you look at the substance of the remarks, they're actually not that different.

She is now at a crossroads where she has to decide what her nuance is on this issue, whether she wants to break from Biden's position or whether she wants to stay the course with what the administration has laid out fulsomely so far.

This appearance tonight appears to be her saying this is where I'm going to be on this matter, that Israel has a right to defend itself and how it does so matter, and that for people on all sides of this debate that she hears them and she sees them.

All right, Kayla Tausche, thank you so much.

And for more reaction to Vice President Harris' comments, I want to bring in Democratic Congressman Jason Crowe of Colorado.

First off, what is your reaction to what we just heard from Harris?

Well, I agree with your colleague that the line that we support Israel but how it does so matter, that is a key element to this, that we can both stand with Israel and help it defend itself, but it has to do so consistent with its values, that the level of civilian casualties has been unacceptable and untenable, and the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza is also not aligned with our values and our interests.

And then finally, her calling on the American people to embrace the complexity of the confidence to have that conversation.

Was this a stronger stance on Palestinian suffering in Gaza than we have heard from President Biden in almost 10 months of this war, in your view?

No, I wouldn't compare it to President Biden.

President Biden has handled this in a very complicated and a very strong way, but she's clearly articulating her views on this and saying that we need to have a conversation going forward about the complexity, calling on the release of the hostages, saying that we have to find a path forward to peace.

This conflict has evolved and has evolved from day one to day 270 now at this point.

We have to make sure that we're evolving in our conversation along the lines.

Earlier this week, her campaign said it was still defining her stance over the war.

You heard Harris say how Israel prosecutes this war matters.

Does that signal to you that she could, you know, substantially change her policy toward Israel compared to Biden using more leverage against Netanyahu's government, especially considering she's now a presidential candidate?

I think what it means is that she is going to continue to adapt as the circumstances change.

What I learned in war, I served as an army ranger in Iraq and Afghanistan, is that day one is different from day 90 and different from day 180.

And as a leader, you have to have the ability to be able to adapt to those changing conditions.

So she very clearly conveyed a desire to actually understand what's going on and to adapt as necessary going forward and to embrace, again, that complexity of the situation here, that we can hold several truths at the same time, that one of these truths is we will stand by and defend the state of Israel.

 At the same time, it has to do so consistent with our interests and our values and the values of the American people.

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Hear what VP Harris says she told Israel's Netanyahu

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