In her first interview as the Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris told CNN it was imperative to reach a ceasefire deal in Gaza, but made it clear that she would not alter President Joe Biden’s policy in the region.

However, when pressed on whether she would stop sending weapons to Israel she told Bash, “No, we have to get a deal done, Dana. We have to get a deal done.”

“Adopting an arms embargo against Israel’s assault on Gaza is not only a moral imperative but also a strategic move to defeat Trump and MAGA extremism. It is difficult for the Democratic candidate to champion democracy while arming Netanyahu’s authoritarian regime” reads a recent letter to Harris from the coalition Not Another Bomb.

Recent polling has repeatedly demonstrated that Democratic voters overwhelmingly support the conditioning of U.S. military aid. A Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) survey from March found that 52% of Americans want the U.S. to halt weapons shipments to Israel in order to force a ceasefire. 62% of Biden voters said “The US should stop weapons shipments to Israel until Israel discontinues its attacks on the people of Gaza,” while only 14% disagreed with the statement.

The numbers from a June CBS News poll were even higher, with more than 60% of all voters and almost 80% of Democrats saying the U.S. shouldn’t send Israel weapons.

“The real question should have been, ‘When are you going to start enforcing U.S. law as it relates to arms shipments’ because what we are doing right now, with this United States policy, is in violation of not just international law, but also of American law, “said the Arab Center’s Yousef Munayyer in an interview with Democracy Now in response to the CNN segment. “Vice-President Harris made it clear in other parts of her interview that she wants to be a prosecutor. She wants to enforce the law, but Israel is clearly getting an exception from the Harris campaign.”

  • AbouBenAdhem@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    32
    arrow-down
    20
    ·
    edit-2
    2 months ago

    I have little hope that Biden, Harris, or (obviously) Trump will actually change course on the US’s Israel/Palestine policy—but to be fair, we shouldn’t expect the current vice president to openly say she would reverse the current president’s foreign policies even if she intended to.

    • matcha_addict@lemy.lol
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      21
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      2 months ago

      No I would actually expect a candidate to talk about what they intend, and whatever excuse there’s not to sounds silly.

    • Faresh@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      2 months ago

      There’s no way a US president is going to stop supporting Israel. She would do the same thing, even if she were not the vice-president.

    • Ensign_Crab@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      23
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      2 months ago

      Why not? She’s not the Secretary of State and she’s not setting foreign policy like Dick Cheney.

      Why must she adhere to Biden’s policies?

      • K1nsey6@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        2 months ago

        That $5 million in AIPAC cash says she must adhere to Biden’s/Israel’s policies.

    • CptEnder@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      arrow-down
      16
      ·
      2 months ago

      This. It wouldn’t surprise me if it comes out years later she was basically forced in this position because of ongoing peace negotiations. She’s not stupid, her staff isn’t stupid, bring pro no refugee murder is a very obvious stance. Israel, for whatever fucking reason, has us by the balls. Hopefully one day that changes and they’re just out there in their own like every other asshole. Also BB knows the more fucked up shit he does during the election cycle the better chances he’ll get the guy he wants in. Watch peace suddenly be an option when it’s clear Harris is going to claim victory.

      • Keeponstalin@lemmy.worldOP
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        11
        ·
        2 months ago

        Not changing the current policy of arming the ones doing the mass Refugee murder isn’t really pro no Refugee murder. Israel can continue getting away with the ongoing genocide precisely because we are still giving them unconditional military aid. Conditional military aid is the strong arm option to reign Israel in and force them to accept the US ceasefire proposal that passed through the UN, passed, and has been accepted by every party except Israel

      • Sodium_nitride@lemmygrad.ml
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        2 months ago

        Israel, for whatever fucking reason, has us by the balls.

        They don’t. Their military is entirely dependent upon America. Israel is essentially America’s 51rst state. I mean, Congress even passed a law to treat IDF soldiers as if they were American soldiers.

    • TommySoda@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      arrow-down
      9
      ·
      2 months ago

      Exactly. If she wanted to do anything about it she wouldn’t be able to even mention it. If she said anything that isn’t pro Israel, she’d just piss off Israel and a large amount of her own party. Politicians have always been cowards when it comes to Israel and always will be.

          • Keeponstalin@lemmy.worldOP
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            15
            ·
            edit-2
            2 months ago

            That page literally doesn’t reference likely voters at all. Do you just somehow think all Jewish people are a monolith? There are plenty of Jewish people against the genocide

            We know for a fact that there are hundreds of thousands of likely voters in each swing state that would enthusiasticly vote for Harris if she changed position on Israel

            • PriorityMotif@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              2
              arrow-down
              9
              ·
              2 months ago

              Jews have statistical higher voter turnout than other groups. They’re overwhelmingly Democrats. Many have bought into the Israel criticism = antisemitism. Israel has a lot of influence and can easily help the Republicans win. There are rich Jews who donate to the Democrats. The Democrats also have down ballot races to worry about.

              https://library.fiveable.me/sociology-of-religion/unit-6/religious-voting-behavior/study-guide/CsjUqX3QciF9nQc3

              • Keeponstalin@lemmy.worldOP
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                4
                ·
                2 months ago

                You get that’s general findings from a global poll right? When you look at US polling on the issue, it’s pretty clear

                Recent polling has repeatedly demonstrated that Democratic voters overwhelmingly support the conditioning of U.S. military aid. A Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) survey from March found that 52% of Americans want the U.S. to halt weapons shipments to Israel in order to force a ceasefire. 62% of Biden voters said “The US should stop weapons shipments to Israel until Israel discontinues its attacks on the people of Gaza,” while only 14% disagreed with the statement.

                The numbers from a June CBS News poll were even higher, with more than 60% of all voters and almost 80% of Democrats saying the U.S. shouldn’t send Israel weapons.

                In case you ignored the polls from the article. Here’s another:

                An April 2024 poll of likely voters across the U.S. found that 30% strongly supported withholding military funds to Israel until the attacks on Gaza stop; another 25% somewhat supported that conditional aid policy.

                Below we asked all respondents what minimum combination of policies would secure (for non-Biden voters) or solidify (for Biden voters) a vote for Biden for President. A third or more voters in every state except Minnesota said a lasting ceasefire was among the minimum policies that would be needed to secure solidify their votes

                Although voters are split on whether they approve or disapprove of Biden’s handling of the war, the vast majority (≥ ~75%) across all states still support an immediate and permanent ceasefire. Only a small minority of voters, from 11.2% to 16.1% in Minnesota and Pennsylvania, respectively, strongly approve of the President’s approach on Gaza. Of those, the vast majority in each state (≥64%) strongly support an immediate and permanent ceasefire. That is to say, a change in approach would not lose those votes, but staying on the current path risks doing so.

  • Bertuccio@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    48
    arrow-down
    3
    ·
    2 months ago

    I didn’t expect this at all and am deeply hurt.

    I really thought the handpicked second most powerful person in the country would differ significantly in policies from the people who handpicked her.

  • Sarmyth@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    15
    arrow-down
    7
    ·
    2 months ago

    I don’t really understand what weapons our government is sending Isreal. Is it that we just aren’t canceling their contracts with our weapons manufacturers? Or we arent banning exports of weapons?

    Our government doesn’t actually make weapons, we give contracts to companies to make them and have limits on who else can buy. Isreal doesn’t need our hand-me-downs.

      • Sarmyth@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        19
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        edit-2
        2 months ago

        Thank you! That was an informative article. It’s like we are giving them Raytheon gift cards every year. This makes sense, as it’s the military industrial complex doing what it do. More blood for the blood gods, etc.

        What I think is interesting from the break down is how they are supposed only use it for defense, but then when we go “hey I don’t think you are using that for defense!” We don’t stop handing out the gift cards.

        Also when we were struggling to get congressional approval to give them more gift cards, we let them raid our munitions cookie jar we had been storing with them in case we needed it for the past 40 years.

        It sucks, but I can understand why the US is so reluctant to give up their only long term ally in the region, who’s supported us in our unreasonable conflicts against immense global backlash. We also use them to funnel more taxpayer money to military contractors which are spread all over the US, financially benefiting many states in the process.

        As always it’s all about the money.

  • taiyang@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    arrow-down
    5
    ·
    2 months ago

    I mean, if it was any other ally surrounded by countries that hate them, I’d understand this policy. If Israel wasn’t lead by a dickhead and their regime, I’d understand this policy. They literally only exist as a country with our support.

    But as is stands now, it’s a carrot we should use to leverage peace and, in an ideal world, push for a better coexistence with people they’ve historically shit on. Giving it away for ‘free’ makes little sense aside from fear of losing their support and by extension, the election.

    If we didn’t have foreign money, or PACs in general, would this be different? I would imagine it would be, if we could just fix that shitty system.

      • blockheadjt@sh.itjust.works
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        19
        arrow-down
        34
        ·
        2 months ago

        You’re drawing some pretty premature conclusions from incomplete information. No, I’m against genocide too. But there are some in this thread who would pretend Harris is more pro-genocide than Trump, which is demonstrably false.

        • Sodium_nitride@lemmygrad.ml
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          2
          ·
          2 months ago

          But there are some in this thread who would pretend Harris is more pro-genocide than Trump, which is demonstrably false.

          Is it? She’s the one who is the VP of the organization funding the genocide. I don’t recall Trump directly funding genocide, even going out of his way to circumvent US law. Maybe he did, wouldn’t put it past him, but given the information I have at least, Kamala and Joe Biden are demonstrably, empirically more pro-genocide than Trump, who remember, has already been president in the past.

          Literally the entire political analysis of liberals on this issue is based on nothing but vibes. Trump is worse than Biden/Kamla on genocide because he has more bad guy molecules in his brain of some dumb shit.

        • whenyellowstonehasitsday@fedia.io
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          28
          arrow-down
          3
          ·
          2 months ago

          i mean there aren’t any pro-fascism comments here at time of me posting this so maybe this thread isn’t the resource you think it is

          nobody in this thread is pretending harris is more pro-genocide than trump

          i have literally never seen a comment on the fediverse that implied that

          • blockheadjt@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            8
            arrow-down
            27
            ·
            2 months ago

            It is possible you already have them blocked.

            Do you see the comment about Harris being a worse candidate than Hillary? No sane adult would say such a thing except as deliberate anti-democratic propaganda.

              • blockheadjt@sh.itjust.works
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                5
                arrow-down
                23
                ·
                2 months ago

                Because the intent of the sentiment is to get people to not vote for her, which would increase the likelihood of a Trump presidency, which would ultimately result in more genocide.

            • MisterScruffy@lemmy.ml
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              8
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              2 months ago

              Why don’t you respond directly to the comment that you have a problem with so that there isn’t any confusion?

            • freagle@lemmygrad.ml
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              13
              arrow-down
              2
              ·
              2 months ago

              No sane adult would say such a thing except as deliberate anti-democratic propaganda.

              Jesus christ, sit down child. Your political opponents are not all paid shills out to destroy your wonderfully important institutions because they are opportunistic nihilists.

    • TVA@thebrainbin.org
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      2 months ago

      Not Russian, but go ahead and block me

      ETA: Since it needs to be stated apparently, not a fascist either.

  • Geometrinen_Gepardi@sopuli.xyz
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    23
    arrow-down
    16
    ·
    2 months ago

    Does it even matter which party is in power when it comes to this? It’s in America’s geopolitical interest to have a strong Israel to counter the neighboring Arab States, especially Iran. The fate of Palestine is almost a non-issue in that context.

    • Aradina [She/They]@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      29
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      2 months ago

      It’s almost like America has two far-right parties pretending to be on opposite sides of a political spectrum

    • drdiddlybadger@pawb.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      11
      arrow-down
      10
      ·
      2 months ago

      It matters quite a lot given that Republicans as a party have openly stated that Israel should accelerate all violence against the people of Palestine and expand settlements. The Republican party previously used moabs in the middle east just because Trump wanted go see a big bang and assassinated an Iranian general after inviting him for a peace talk. It matters quite a lot.

      Our situation sucks ass but it’s either the Democratic party or make things far worse for everyone far faster and completely destroy the possibility of doing anything at all.

      • matcha_addict@lemy.lol
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        13
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        2 months ago

        Republicans stated Israel should a celebrate all violence

        While the Democrats do the implementation

        Bombing the middle east is also not exclusive to Republicans. Obama broke a record there.

      • distantsounds@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        23
        arrow-down
        2
        ·
        2 months ago

        but it’s either the Democratic Party or make things far worse

        Maybe if we keep on apologizing for the genocide and maybe it will get better? IDK.

        • drdiddlybadger@pawb.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          4
          arrow-down
          2
          ·
          2 months ago

          Maybe people will support a third party that is actually interested in governing and not just a spoiler party that conveniently pops up during the presidential election yeah. I’m hopeful people will actually pay attention and build local party power with the way things have been going. But time will tell.

          • Keeponstalin@lemmy.worldOP
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            6
            ·
            2 months ago

            Biden/Harris not changing on Israel is creating a growing spoiler effect to the green party. Changing position on Israel would secure so many votes and stop that spoiler effect

    • freagle@lemmygrad.ml
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      2 months ago

      Actually, you just made me realize it’s THE issue. Palestine must be destroyed to create buffer zone full of militarized activated and hardened Israeli forces to make the threat even stronger than it already was. It’s not enough for Israel to be a nuclear power in the region, it has to be militarized and active for the coming decades.

    • VinnyDaCat@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      2 months ago

      Yeah. I suspect many of us knew her stance on this issue before she said it but she really did not need to say it.

      I appreciate the honesty but I do wish that she would avoid this one topic in particular. This is an issue that younger voters feel very strongly about. Younger voter turnout may not be good anyways, but I would really do my best to avoid upsetting that crowd. We’re not trying to make people go back to feeling apathetic regarding the election again.

    • suction@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      edit-2
      2 months ago

      Right because Trump will nuke Israel and single-handedly create a Palestinian state from the mountains to the sea. So definitely vote for him.

      • K1nsey6@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        ·
        2 months ago

        Biden/Harris Is providing enough money and weapons for Netanyahu to finish the job. While shitlibs are terrified of what Trump MIGHT do, they are distracted from whats actually happening

      • meowMix2525@lemm.ee
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        ·
        edit-2
        2 months ago

        I don’t know if you’ve noticed but the last 10 months have taken place under the Biden administration.

        Edit: also nobody wants that wtf are you talking about

    • takeda@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      7
      arrow-down
      12
      ·
      edit-2
      2 months ago

      What? Trump advocates to completely glass Palestine. Biden position is to not block Israel from purchasing weapons, but also not getting dragged into a war itself and in fact getting out of Middle East. This is the real reason why West pushes so hard for EVs. US wants completely out, and if Israel wants to fight then let them use their own resources. Bibi would love if US instead of providing weapons would enter and do the job for them.

  • beliquititious@lemmy.blahaj.zone
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    54
    arrow-down
    4
    ·
    2 months ago

    How hard is it to field a presidential candidate that is not a senior citizen and who doesn’t wish to remain allies with countries engaged in genocide?

    • Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      arrow-down
      3
      ·
      2 months ago

      There are several, Claudia De La Cruz and Jill Stein. The problem is that the US isn’t a democracy and never was.

    • weew@lemmy.ca
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      19
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      2 months ago

      The problem is that the countries engaged in genocide allow the US a foothold in the middle East, so they can basically get away with anything. Losing that means throwing away all the military and strategic advantage in that region.

      Tl;dr you may as well wish for a president that wants to demilitarize the US

      • beliquititious@lemmy.blahaj.zone
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        3
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        2 months ago

        Honestly, I think it might be a deal breaker for me in November. I’m willing to put up with a lot of meat-brained nonsense, but dead children so out soldiers can have an easier commute to kill more is a nonstarter.

        If I do decide not to vote in a few months, and not voting gives Trump the presidency, it’s what we deserve.

    • Dharma Curious (he/him)@slrpnk.net
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      19
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      2 months ago

      Clearly the most efficient way to stop this genocide is to wait until all the Palestinians have been murdered. Then no more can be murdered. Thus no more genocide. Obviously you just don’t understand the complexities of the situation. It’s the only way to ensure the genocide stops!

      I fucking hate myself for knowing that I’ll be voting for her. Jesus

      • K1nsey6@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        2 months ago

        Then don’t vote for her, It’s very simple. If you keep rewarding politicians for bad behavior, that behavior never gets better. It’s like giving a dog a cookie every time it pisses on the floor. The dog assumes that you want it to piss on the floor.

      • III@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        9
        arrow-down
        5
        ·
        2 months ago

        I would hate myself voting for or not voting against a candidate who will only increase support for genocide.

        I understand your frustration with the Harris option but am glad you are willing to still vote. So many others seem be happy allowing things to become worse just because they can’t make it better, which is an even less moral response.