Kamala Harris has already infuriated a key US ally
Kamala Harris's decision to stay away from Benjamin Netanyahu's address to Congress has irritated officials in the Israeli prime minister's administration. She is due to travel to Indianapolis on Wednesday, but is expected to meet him a day later.
Dozens of Democrats plan to stay away in protest at the way Netanyahu is waging war on Gaza. An Israeli official told The Daily Telegraph that Harris's decision to press ahead with a pre-existing appointment was 'disappointing.'
'The free world cannot afford leaders who are unable to distinguish between good and evil,' said the official. Her absence takes on even greater significance coming days after she was anointed by President Joe Biden and top Democrats to be the party's nominee in November's election.
She has been more outspoken than her boss on Israel's response to the October 7 Hamas attack. 'People in Gaza are starving,' she said in March. 'The conditions are inhumane and our common humanity compels us to act.'
She is due to appear in Indianapolis at a convention being held by the black Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Democratic Sen. Patty Murray, who as president pro tempore of the Senate is next in line also declined to preside over the joint meeting. Instead, her Democratic colleague Sen. Ben Cardin, chair of the Foreign Relations Committee, will take on the ceremonial role. It is the first time that has happened since 1989.
Netanyahu arrived in Washington, D.C., on Monday. The trip was planned long before Biden upended U.S. politics on Sunday by announcing that he won't seek reelection. He met with relatives of U.S. hostages held in Gaza on Monday evening, and he is expected to hold talks with administration officials on U.S.-mediated talk to bring an end to the nine-month war.
He was always going to have to walk a tightrope, balancing his wafer-thin hold on power at home while dealing with an administration facing criticism from the left that it is not doing enough to reduce civilian casualties in conflict that has killed almost 40,000 people. That just got harder with news that Biden, a long-time friend of the Israeli leader, is standing aside.
Aryeh Lightstone, who was senior adviser to Donald Trump's ambassador to Israel, said he was not surprised that Harris was staying away from Netanyahu's speech, given her longstanding hostility to the country. 'She doesn't like the State of Israel ,' he said. 'She certainly doesn't like the current government and she's not interested in engaging with it.'
He added that Netanyahu was a canny enough political operator not to be surprised by her reaction. 'Prime Minister Netanyahu, I think, knew he was walking into this when he came here and he made that calculation,' he said. The prime minister told hostage families that there had been progress in peace talks. 'The conditions are undoubtedly ripening,' he said. 'This is a good sign.' The hostages were taken when Hamas gunmen stormed into southern Israel, killing 1,200 people and capturing 250 more.
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