Vice President Kamala Harris said U.S. policy on arming Israel will not change if she is elected president, echoing the Biden administration’s line on expressing tepid sympathy for Palestinians being killed and starved in Gaza while staunchly affirming support for Israel’s vicious military conduct in the war.
In her first interview as the Democratic presidential nominee on Thursday, Harris showed that she is in lockstep with President Joe Biden on the issue, rejecting calls — including from fellow Democrats — to withhold weapons from Israel over its siege on Gaza. Israel’s offensive has killed more than 40,000 people so far and injured more than 93,000, according to health officials in Gaza.
“Let me be very clear: I am unequivocal and unwavering in my commitment to Israel’s defense and its ability to defend itself, and that’s not going to change,” Harris told CNN when asked whether she would halt “some” arms shipments to Israel.
She went on to talk in detail about Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks, which killed 1,200 people. “As I said then, I say today: Israel … has a right to defend itself. We would,” she said. “And how it does so matters. Far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed.”
When asked flat-out whether her policy would differ from Biden’s on “arms and so forth,” Harris said no. She then spoke about the urgency in landing an agreement to release the hostages held by Hamas and secure a cease-fire in Gaza, a deal she said would end the war and “unlock so much of what must happen next.”








