Harris defends security aid to Israel alongside pressure for ceasefire
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
US Vice President Kamala Harris defends US security assistance to Israel, but also says the Biden administration will not halt its pressure on Jerusalem for an end to the fighting.
“The aid that we have given Israel allowed Israel to defend itself against 200 ballistic missiles that were just meant to attack the people of Israel,” Harris tells CBS’s “60 Minutes” in a preview clip of a rare interview, slated to air in full tonight.
The administration has faced questions over its continued aid to Israel given accusations that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is bucking Washington’s interests and objectives in the region.
“When we think about the threat that Hamas, Hezbollah… Iran present, I think that it is without any question, our imperative to do what we can to allow Israel to defend itself against those kinds of attacks,” says Harris, who is running to succeed US President Joe Biden in the White House.
The Democrat insists that the security aid is provided in parallel to diplomatic engagements with Israel’s leaders aimed at swaying their actions.
“The work that we do diplomatically with the leadership of Israel is an ongoing pursuit around making clear our principles, which include the need for humanitarian aid, the need for this war to end, the need for a deal to be done which would release the hostages and create a ceasefire, and we’re not going to stop in terms of putting that pressure on Israel and in the region, including Arab leaders,” she says.
Pressed on what that pressure has accomplished, given how the war in Gaza has dragged on and the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah has expanded dramatically in recent weeks, Harris rejects the premise but does not give concrete examples to back her point.
“The work that we have done has resulted in a number of movements in that region by Israel that were very much prompted by or a result of many things, including our advocacy for what needs to happen in the region,” she says.
Asked whether the US has a close ally in Netanyahu, Harris dodges once again. “I think, with all due respect, the better question is, do we have an important alliance between the American people and the Israeli people? And the answer to that question is yes.”
Harris has made this argument once before, cautioning against the conflation of Israel’s government with its people amid the Biden administration’s growing rift with Netanyahu over his handling of the war in Gaza.