Harris says she won’t stop Biden’s policy of sending weapons to Israel
Harris says she won’t stop Biden’s policy of sending weapons to Israel
In an interview with CNN, Harris said she supports a ceasefire deal but made it clear that she would not stop sending Israel weapons if elected.
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.”
80% of her base wants to stop sending weapons to Israel. Where the fuck is democracy?
80% in terms of people, but not 80% in terms of money.
80% in terms of what those people say but not 80% in terms of people who are willing act on their stated desires. So really it's ~80% that don't care according to their likely actions.
Politicians are in the business of selling votes. But votes can only be sold when they are received.
As long as everyone knows that a vote for Democrat or Republican means your vote is sold to AIPAC.
In history books. This is oligarchy.
Blue MAGA thinks they hold the reins
It sucks we have to vote on people instead of policies.
You mean 40% of Democrats want to decrease it, while the swing voters she needs to win an election are the most likely to support sending current or greater levels of support.
If those "swing" voters care that much about bombing gaza then they're going to be voting for trump regardless of kamala's position.
Whelp, there goes that hope. Back to being angry.
At least during this period of anger we won't have to also deal with the gnawing realization that they're 100% going to lose. Harris may still lose, and this could certainly help her along the way, but it's not a certainty, which is kind of better?
Harris says she won’t stop arming Israel
If she wants Trump to win, just say that.
Jfc.
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.
Right because Trump will nuke Israel and single-handedly create a Palestinian state from the mountains to the sea. So definitely vote for him.
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
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
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.
Wow, what a missed layup. Guess she wants to lose all of her goodwill? Fucking strange.
"We will adhere to US law."
That's all she needed to say.
...
Why?
Seriously! Why!?
I don't remotely understand this policy, and it seems that pretty much noone would vote for it if they could avoid doing so.
We gotta make AIPAC happy or else they might stop paying for Pelosi's yacht.
Because our government's support of Israel furthers US financial interests in the Middle East.
The US and the UK.
US was saying this over and over and it is finally doing it, which is getting out of Middle East and letting them on their own. This is why there's also so hard push for EVs.
The policy is to allow selling weapons, not to give them, it is also not what Bibi hopes that US will enter another war and fight on his behalf.
Israel is the country equivalent of the US sending an aircraft carrier outside a country it has tenuous relations with yet wants favorable trade. It's how they cement the Petro-Dollar as the global currency and dominate financial capital.
Ceasing support for Israel risks hurting US profits, so the US has a monetary interest in propping up the genocidal campaign while pretending to push for a ceasefire to appease domestic tensions, however poorly.
Her husband also made a pledge to, “fight antisemitism” when asked about Israel’s crimes.
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?
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
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.
There are several, Claudia De La Cruz and Jill Stein. The problem is that the US isn't a democracy and never was.
It’s almost as if the ICJ hasn’t declared it a genocide
unsurprising. good luck in November, I guess 👍
My god what an apt description for American polititcs. (Illegal) Aliens vs. (Sexual) Predators.
Illegal ‘aliens’ are NOWHERE close to sexual predators by nature.
Hell, by nature, illegal immigrants are more civil and respectable than ANY ‘natural born American’. Every metric and statistic will show you that.
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.
As much as I hate to admit this, I don't think this will change my opinion on her. Don't get me wrong, I think it's incredibly fucked up that they continue to give them the weapons they use to murder civilians. But I also know that pretty much every president that has been elected since Israel has existed as a country would do exactly the same. The vast majority of politicians are spineless when it comes to Israel and always will be, regardless of party affiliation. No matter who gets elected it will always be the same answer with varying degrees of severity. And even if Harris wanted to do something about it, do you really think she would say anything new until she knew for a fact she was going to win? She'd get ostracized by the majority of her own party and potentially lose a bunch of those fancy endorsements she just received.
I'm not saying it's right. In fact, it's so fucked up it makes my blood boil. I'm just saying that politicians are fucking cowards and always will be.
But I also know that pretty much every president that has been elected since Israel has existed as a country would do exactly the same.
Your knowledge is incorrect. Please seek out better sources.
Reagan said Israel is carrying out a holocaust, and stopped them with a single phonecall. Bush Sr. stopped them by threatening arms embargo as well. Eisenhower and Ford couldn't stomach their bloodlust either and called them off.
Israel is a client state of the US, it's best to think of it as the 51st state. They do what they're told.
Not enough genocide yet apparently. Fuck this
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
iT,s ok bEcAUse it’S tHe oNLy sAfE pOrT iN the aReA!!
PSL gang
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.
There’s always my boy Vermin!
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.
Don’t hate yourself. It’s not your fault, it’s theirs.
And it'll be one of her worst decisions of this campaign
Quick! show them more of Walz, they like him!
Joe Biden is a mass murderer. We will never forget, never forgive.
Biden/Harris are mass murders, and that's right.
Oh, scary.
As a European citizen: is it really a possibility for any US president not to do so? (Honest question, since from Europe US's policy is seen as supporting Israel no matter what)
Other presidents were able to restrain Israel from trying to enact a "final solution"
God they’re so stupid.
Israel will not stop until we take away their ability to continue.
When this war ends, Netanyahu will be removed from power for his prior crimes and likely jailed. He doesn’t want that and he’s murdering Palestinians to be sure he never sees the inside of a cell.
I wish we had an actual viable option for ending this war. But my choices right now are vote for the genocide or flee the country because Trump has promised he will make my wife’s life hell day one.
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.
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?
That $5 million in AIPAC cash says she must adhere to Biden's/Israel's policies.
No I would actually expect a candidate to talk about what they intend, and whatever excuse there's not to sounds silly.
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.
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.
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.
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
She’s not stupid
I had to stop reading after that
The AIPAC queen can't get enough of headless toddlers and rape squads
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.
Here's a good article explaining our military aid to Israel
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.
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.
It's almost like America has two far-right parties pretending to be on opposite sides of a political spectrum
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.
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.
Oh cool, look the Democrats are trying to suppress the vote in Michigan.
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.
It's not like she has a choice. The defense contractors call all the shots and they want to keep the arms flowing. We vote for the promise of maybe getting a small piece of that pie to fund healthcare for the elderly, maybe, they'll increase military spending anyways.
Not supplying weapons to Israel is not one of the options on the ballot.
I did not think it possible for Democrats to run a worse candidate than 2016 Hillary.