Kamala Harris says she’s not concerned about Trump’s talks with Netanyahu
After GOP candidate said PM calls him frequently and is wise not to listen to Biden, rival says calls are not undermining US policy; VP urges two-state solution, end to war
US Vice President Kamala Harris said Sunday that she was not concerned about conversations between her Republican rival Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, reiterating her positions on the conflict in the Middle East.
Asked if talks between Trump and Netanyahu could undermine what the current US government is trying to achieve, Harris said: “No.”
“I do believe that it is critically important that we, as the United States of America, be an active participant in encouraging… that this war ends, that we get the hostages out, but also that there is a real commitment among nations to a two-state solution and the ‘day after’ [in Gaza],” she told reporters.
Trump and Netanyahu have spoken on a few occasions in recent weeks. On Wednesday, Trump said at a rally in Georgia that “Bibi called me yesterday, called me the day before” because he “wants my views on things,” referring to Netanyahu by his nickname.
The previous Saturday, at a rally in Pennsylvania, Trump also said he had just spoken to Netanyahu, who Trump said gushed over Israel’s recent battlefield successes against Hamas and Hezbollah.
“[Netanyahu] said, ‘It’s incredible what’s happened,’ and I said, ‘It’s pretty incredible,” Trump said of the call, adding: “But he wouldn’t listen to [US President Joe] Biden, because if he did, they wouldn’t be in this position.”
Trump has accused Biden of forcing Israel to pull its punches against the two terror groups and their chief sponsor, Iran.
Biden has largely supported Israel during the conflict, which was sparked on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill nearly 1,200 people and take 251 hostages.
Harris and Trump, who are deadlocked ahead of the November 5 election, have both pledged to maintain US support for its ally. Harris’s position, and her association with Biden, have dented her support among the once-solidly Democratic Arab and Muslim Americans, particularly in the swing state of Michigan.
Trump has sought to capitalize on that, holding a rally with Muslim leaders in Michigan on Saturday.
In tandem, he has accused Harris, whose husband is Jewish, of antisemitism and hostility toward Israel, and said repeatedly that Jews who vote for her need to “get their head checked.”
Trump and Netanyahu had close ties when Trump was president as the US moved its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, which delighted Israelis and infuriated Palestinians.
The two leaders had a falling-out after Netanyahu congratulated Biden on winning the 2020 election, whose results Trump rejected.
Netanyahu patched things up with Trump over the past year, visiting the former president at home in Florida in July. The visit came two days after Netanyahu’s speech to a joint session of the US Congress, which Harris declined to preside over, citing a scheduling conflict.
