Just Answer the Question, Kamala
On the one-year anniversary of October 7, which resulted in the largest loss of Jewish lives in a single day since the Holocaust, Vice President Kamala Harris dodged a major question about U.S. support for Israel. A preview to tonight’s Harris-Walz interview with CBS News’ 60 Minutes shows VP Harris refusing to declare the Biden-Harris Administration an ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“We supply Israel with billions of dollars in military aid,” correspondent Bill Whitaker said. . . . “And yet, Prime Minister Netanyahu seems to be charting his own course. The Biden-Harris administration has pressed him to agree to a cease-fire. [He’s] resisted. You urged him not to go into Lebanon. He went in anyway. He has promised to make Iran pay for the missile attack, and that has the potential of expanding the war. Does the U.S. have no sway over Prime Minister Netanyahu?”
“The aid that we have given Israel allowed Israel to defend itself against 200 ballistic missiles that were just meant to attack the Israelis and the people of Israel,” Harris said in the interview. “And, when we think about the threat that Hamas, Hezbollah, presents, Iran, 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.” . . .
Whitaker then asked Harris if “we have a real close ally” when it comes to the Israeli prime minister.
“I think, with all due respect, the better question is, ‘Do we have an important alliance between the American people and the Israeli people?’” Harris said. “And the answer to that question is yes.”
So a big non-answer coming directly from VP Harris. Ironically, the same could be said about many of the Iranian people who live under the authoritarian Ayatollah. Harris might as well be saying, well, we can’t work with the Ayatollah, but there are many suffering Iranian people we want to help.
On the other hand, VP Harris could have simply stated that PM Netanyahu is the duly elected Prime Minister of Israel and that the U.S. is an ally of the Israeli people and will support its leadership. Yet she couldn’t even do that because she cared too much about appeasing the pro-Hamas faction of her voting base.
And let us not forget that this televised interview will air on the first anniversary of October 7 – a day on which 1,200 men, women, and children, including 46 Americans and citizens of more than 30 countries, were slaughtered by Hamas. In addition, 254 were taken hostage, including 12 Americans. Four of those Americans were murdered by Hamas, four were released, and we believe four remain in captivity in Gaza. We do not know if they are dead or alive, and in all, an estimated 97 hostages remain in Gaza.
October 7 showed the world the brutality and evil that remain an existential threat to Israel in the world of radical Islam. And the threat has shifted with Iran, a Shia nation, becoming the primary threat to Israel as it is now open to working with non-Shia Islamic terrorist groups like Hamas.
Iran also funds Hezbollah (a Shia group), the Houthis, and basically any other group that’s willing to attack Israel. Lebanon, which is harboring Hezbollah within its own country, has its own military and government and should remove the terrorists from their land.
VP Harris also just pledged to send $157 million to Lebanon. Why should it be the responsibility of the U.S. and the U.N. to rebuild Beirut? The Biden-Harris Administration is showing its true priorities by sending money to Lebanon when Americans are suffering from the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.
The ACLJ will never forget the atrocities of October 7, and we remain committed to supporting Israel. We just presented two emergency oral interventions at the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva last week. And today, we are sending a demand letter to 42 countries demanding that they support our ally.
Today’s Sekulow broadcast included a full analysis of Vice President Kamala Harris refusing to directly answer a question about U.S. support for Israel. ACLJ Senior Counsel for International and Government Affairs Jeff Ballabon reacted to this betrayal, and former U.S. representative Tulsi Gabbard reflected on the events of October 7.
Watch the full broadcast below: