Vice President Kamala Harris sparked controversy on Thursday with her remarks to reporters after a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in which she appeared to place blame for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza squarely on Israel.
The meeting, which lasted 40 minutes, took place at the White House and was seen as an opportunity for Harris to demonstrate her support for Israel in the face of ongoing conflict with Hamas. However, her comments to reporters suggested that she was more critical of Israel’s actions than those of the terrorist organization.
Harris acknowledged Israel’s right to self-defense, but emphasized that the manner in which it exercises that right is crucial. She also suggested that the conflict in Gaza is not a simple matter of good versus evil, a characterization that Netanyahu himself had used in his address to Congress earlier in the day.
Netanyahu’s speech to lawmakers was notable for its stark moral clarity, with the Israeli leader framing the war against Hamas as a clear-cut battle between good and evil. In contrast, Harris’s comments seemed to muddy the waters, implying that Israel’s actions were at least partially responsible for the suffering of civilians in Gaza.
The Vice President’s decision to skip Netanyahu’s address to Congress in order to attend a luncheon with members of her former college sorority network also raised eyebrows, with some critics suggesting that it was a snub of the Israeli leader.
