Accepting nomination, Harris vows support for Israeli security, Palestinian self-determination
Kamala Harris says ‘the time is now’ for hostage-truce deal, but she ‘will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself,’ citing ‘horror’ of October 7
CHICAGO — US Vice President Kamala Harris accepted the Democratic presidential nomination in Chicago on Thursday before a rapturous crowd, pledging a “new way forward” and warning that Donald Trump will take America backward if he wins November’s election.
Harris pledged that if she is elected in November, Israel will always have the support it needs to defend itself, while also acknowledging the humanitarian toll of the war in Gaza and calling for an immediate hostage-ceasefire deal to end the fighting and return those held captive by Hamas.
“With respect to the war in Gaza: President Biden and I are working around the clock. Because now is the time to get a hostage deal and ceasefire done,” she said in her speech on the final night of the Democratic National Convention.
“Let me be clear: I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself,” she said, drawing thunderous applause from the tens of thousands in the United Center.
The line amounted to a rejection of a loud and heavily-covered fringe of Democratic delegates who have been calling for an Israel arms embargo.
Several thousand anti-Israel protesters turned out to protest the convention, but the demonstrations, which drew significantly fewer people than the organizers had expected, had minimal effect on the convention itself.
Harris has not deviated publicly from the Biden administration’s policies on Israel during her time as vice president, although some have seen her rhetoric throughout the war as more sharply emphasizing the plight of Palestinians.
Harris on Israel/Gaza:
"I will always stand up for Israel's right to defend itself"
"At the same time, what has happened in Gaza is devastating"
"[I will work to make sure] The Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom, and self-determination" pic.twitter.com/Kkhc0lW8qJ
— Erin Reed (@ErinInTheMorn) August 23, 2024
Before a Detroit rally last month, Harris met briefly in a photo line with the founders of the Uncommitted National Movement, which led a mass protest vote during the Democratic Party primaries over US President Joe Biden’s support for Israel in the war against Hamas.
Following the rally, the Uncommitted activists said Harris had indicated a willingness to hold a follow-up meeting to discuss their demand for an arms embargo against Israel. Harris’s campaign first issued a statement that made no mention of an arms embargo, followed by a more definitive statement firmly opposing the policy.
The 30 “Uncommitted” party delegates, out of some 4,700 at the convention, were denied a request to have a Palestinian representative address the convention.
Harris made clear in her speech that she would maintain Biden’s policy. “The people of Israel must never again face the horror that the terrorist organization Hamas caused on October 7, including unspeakable sexual violence and the massacre of young people at a music festival.”
The Israel-Hamas war began on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists invaded southern Israel from the Gaza Strip, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking 251 hostages, amid acts of brutality and sexual assault.
Harris went on: “And know this: I will never hesitate to take whatever action is necessary to defend our forces and our interests against Iran and Iran-backed terrorists.
“At the same time, what has happened in Gaza over the past 10 months is devastating. So many innocent lives, hungry people fleeing to safety over and over again. The scale of suffering is heartbreaking,” she added.
“President Biden and I are working to end this war such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination,” Harris added, evoking the loudest applause during the foreign policy section of her speech.
The Biden administration is heavily involved in ongoing mediated negotiations between Israel and Hamas to arrive at a deal for the release of the 105 hostages still in captivity, dozens of whom are no longer alive, in exchange for a ceasefire and the release of hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners.
The remarks about Gaza came toward the end of Harris’s speech on Thursday, in which the vice president called on Americans to join her to “chart a new way forward” and argued her personal story and prosecutorial background made her uniquely qualified to protect their interests and beat Republican Donald Trump.
Harris mostly used her speech on Thursday to urge Americans to seize what she called a “precious, fleeting opportunity” to move beyond political divisions, seeking to present a contrast between her campaign and that of Trump.
The speech laid out some broad policy principles, foreign and domestic, but left unsaid specific details that she could be pressured to provide in the weeks ahead.
Harris continued her campaign’s theme of freedom, pledging to protect abortion rights nationwide and adding that “many other fundamental freedoms are at stake,” calling to address gun violence and climate change and to protect LGBT rights, as well as “the freedom that unlocks all the others, the freedom to vote.”
The vice president accused Trump of not fighting for the middle class, planning to enact a tax hike through his tariff proposals, and having set in motion the end of a constitutional right to abortion with his picks for the US Supreme Court.
Harris focused on her own biography, speaking at length about her mother, a cancer researcher who immigrated to the United States aged 19 from India, whom the candidate described as “a brilliant, five-foot-tall, brown woman with an accent.”
She emphasized her law-and-order credentials, including on the issue of America’s southern border. “As President, I will bring back the bipartisan border security bill that [Trump] killed. And I will sign it into law,” she said.
Trump, for whom immigration has always been a core issue, opposed a major immigration reform package in May and is accused by Democrats of sabotaging it to help his re-election campaign.
Harris noted the Supreme Court’s recent ruling about presidential immunity and the risks she said that would engender if Trump gained power again.
“Just imagine Donald Trump with no guard rails,” she said.
Harris connected her opponent’s domestic politics to her own pledge to support Ukraine, accusing the Republican of disparaging NATO. “Trump won’t hold autocrats accountable — because he wants to be an autocrat,” she said.
“In the enduring struggle between democracy and tyranny, I know where I stand — and where the United States of America belongs,” she added, as she drew her speech to a close.
After Harris ended her address, 100,000 balloons descended on the crowd. Inflating them took 75 volunteers, 30 staff members and a dozen unionized stagehands.
The Democratic candidate has raised a record-breaking $500 million in a month and either narrowed the gap or taken the lead against Trump in many opinion polls of battleground states.
Nationwide, she leads Trump 46.6% to 43.8%, according to a compilation of polls by FiveThirtyEight.
