Interpreting Kamala Harris’ Israel position

If you were shocked that Kamala Harris, during her Democratic National Convention speech, given on Thursday night, said that “Israel has a right to defend itself,” you should not necessarily interpret those sentiments to mean that she has suddenly become pro-Israel, because the most important part of that speech were the words to follow.

It was the continuation of what she said, that tells you everything you need to know about where Harris stands on the Israel-Hamas war, and these are the positions that should most critically be analyzed:

“At the same time, what has happened in Gaza over the past 10 months is devastating. So many innocent lives lost. Desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety, over and over again. The scale of suffering is heartbreaking.”

Within those 37 words, there is a very lopsided view of who bears the responsibility for the suffering of everyone involved. And, although, Harris did mention the devastation which took place at the Nova Music Festival, citing “unspeakable sexual violence and the massacre of young people,” she stopped there, omitting the fact that tens of thousands of Israeli residents, who lived both in the north and south of the country have also had to flee for safety, leaving everything behind. All those Israeli children have not had normal school classes for months, thriving businesses have had to be shut down, our bustling tourism has come to a halt, the flourishing agricultural industry has taken a nosedive, for lack of workers to harvest the produce, resulting in massive fruit and vegetable shortages, and there is now talk that these citizens may never again be able to return to their former lives.

In short, Harris has divvied up the tragedy into two categories, Israel as the ones who were initially attacked, with their need to defend themselves as a people, and Gazans who continue to suffer all of the fallout of Israel’s defense. This is the lopsided view which reduces the suffering of Israelis into a one-day event, while turning the suffering of the Gazan people into a 10-month catastrophe which some have equated as a genocide.

What is missing from this distorted depiction is a robust and unequivocal condemnation of the Hamas terrorist government which led its people into the abyss of a war that had to be fought, because not doing so would have resulted in the demise of the Jewish state since October 7th was not when it ended. Right from the beginning, massive rocket attacks were being launched into major cities throughout Israel, reaching Tel Aviv, north of Tel Aviv, south of Tel Aviv and even east of Tel Aviv. 

Most of us spent many hours in our bomb shelters, waiting out the long barrages that occurred multiple times throughout the day and night. In fact, New Year’s Eve, not to be forgotten, was met with the launching of another massive barrage at the stroke of midnight.

Not only did Harris fail to mention these things, but she also overlooked the small detail that Hezbollah did their part, launching rockets from the north, constantly sending in suicide drones which set off massive wildfires that have already destroyed thousands of dunams of land which will be left barren indefinitely.

She also left out the part of the Houthis launching their own missiles into our southernmost city, Eilat as well as other areas, including one which struck in the early hours of the morning, causing terror in the heart of Tel Aviv and killing one man while he slept in his bed. Also conveniently forgotten was the April 13th attack of Iran, the country which is sponsoring all of these terror attacks, sending 170 drones, over 30 cruise missiles and more than 120 ballistic missiles in the direction of Israel.

Oh yes, she also neglected to mention the beautiful lives of 695 young men and women who died wearing the IDF uniform, in the defense of their country, precious lives that ended once Hamas decided to invade our sovereign land by air and foot, to perpetrate the greatest Jewish massacre in modern times since the dark days of the Holocaust. Nor did she refer to their children, their spouses, parents, siblings and friends whose lives will be irreparably changed forever. 

When you add all that up, it amounts to untold suffering which is also ongoing and “heartbreaking,” to use her words, but which no one would know about, because Harris only portrayed one side as enduring those long-term effects.

If you’re curious as to why she didn’t mention all of these concurrent events, it could be one of two reasons. Detailing a comprehensive account of what has taken place, on the Israeli side, would surely not play well with the pro-Palestinian constituency of Harris’ party nor the thousands of protesters who showed up each evening of the convention, carrying Palestinian and Hamas flags, showing their undying support for the terrorist regime and the monsters who would behead men, women and children while burning whole communities.  

Nor would it play well with the Michigan crowd, headed by Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, who has begun what is being referred to as the “Uncommitted Movement,” comprised of pro-Palestinian delegates who have “signaled that they would fully support Vice President Kamala Harris if given a few minutes to address the convention.” Another demand of the group was for Harris to agree to an arms embargo on Israel.  

Of course, despite all of Harris’ very left-leaning positions, her campaign operatives had to know that such a vicious act against Israel would not help her cause as she continues to rebrand herself as a moderate candidate. Nonetheless, Harris must remain cognizant of the growing anti-Israel base whose support she needs, so walking the thin line between total condemnation of Israel, or throwing them a small bone of sympathy, is not an easy feat, but she seems to have done her best to accomplish something in the middle.

The other reason, and one which is equally plausible, is that Harris, herself is ignorant and uninformed of all that has taken place in Israel to our residents, since that fateful day of October 7th. How much does she actually know? If you listen to reports, it has been said that Kamala doesn’t like to get briefings, and that could mean that she’s missed an enormous amount of important context. But that is also a strategy, because you don’t need to take a position on what is unknown to you. 

Israel is not just defending herself by fighting a war. Israel has suffered displacement of her population, severe economic disaster, the inability to educate her children, the constant fear of rocket and drone attacks, the ongoing and looming threats of being wiped out by multiple countries in a coordinated attack, the deaths of civilians and our young soldiers and enough to extend this article to yet another thousand tearful words.

This is the only way to interpret Kamala Harris’ position on Israel – either as one which plays to her audience or one which comes from a place of being uninformed. If I had to guess which one it was, I’d say that it’s both!