Harris doesn’t solve Gaza – she’s a change in tone but not in substance

At the same time, her team has been quick to tamp down any suggestion that she meaningfully disagrees with Biden’s approach. (“The difference is not in substance but probably in tone,” a Harris adviser told The Nation’s Joan Walsh in a recent profile.) Therefore, while Harris could be less resistant to pressure on Gaza than Biden, she will still, as she might put it, be operating in the context of what came before her. It is up to us, the organizers and activists, to make it so that the future Harris administration not only can but must hold Israel to account—not just with words but with real action.

The Uncommitted National Movement has indicated that it will back any candidate at the convention and mobilize voters on their behalf in November so long as that candidate backs a permanent ceasefire and an arms embargo. In its statement, the movement wrote:

Supplying weapons to Netanyahu’s regime makes a mockery of Democrats’ claims to fight against MAGA authoritarianism. By funding a government committing human rights abuses, we undermine our party’s stance against far-right extremism and contradict our commitment to democracy.

It’s time to align our actions with our values. Vice President Harris can start the process to earn back trust by turning the page from Biden’s horrific policies in Gaza.

Kamala doesn’t reduce aid.

Serhan 7-23 [Yasmeen; “Yasmeen Serhan is a staff writer at TIME, based in the London Bureau. She covers foreign affairs with an emphasis on the future of democracies and rising authoritarianism around the world.”; 7-23-2023; “How U.S. Policy on Gaza Could Change Under Kamala Harris—or Donald Trump”; https://time.com/7001874/kamala-harris-donald-trump-biden-gaza/] Vikrant

President Joe Biden’s decision to abandon his re-election bid amid growing concerns over his age has completely upended the 2024 presidential contest, which now appears to be between former President Donald Trump and current Vice President Kamala Harris, the favorite to win the Democratic nomination. Who Americans ultimately choose to succeed Biden will have a profound impact not only on the future of the U.S., but of the wider world—and perhaps nowhere more so than in Gaza.

Biden, who has committed to remaining in office until the end of his term in January 2025, has indicated that he will dedicate the remainder of his presidency to ending Israel’s ongoing war in Gaza, which is in its ninth month, and securing the release of the roughly 120 Israeli hostages who have remained captive there since Hamas’s deadly Oct. 7 attack. So far, Israel’s bombardment has resulted in the near-complete destruction of the Strip and the killing of more than 39,000 Palestinians, according to the Hamas-led Gaza Health Ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the U.S. government and the U.N., though researchers fear the actual toll is much higher. While Biden has expressed optimism about the prospect of achieving an as-yet-elusive ceasefire deal, few expect him to change tack on the issue between now and January.

“The fact that he doesn’t have to think about potential reelection, I don’t think it’s going to change very much,” says Michael Koplow, the chief policy officer at the Israel Policy Forum, a U.S.-based political research group. “I don’t think he’s going to radically shift course.”

Under Harris: Continuity, with some potential for change

Should the war continue into January, however, the responsibility of ending it will fall to whoever Biden’s successor is—an outcome that will almost certainly shape the U.S.’s policy on this issue. If that person is Harris, observers predict that she will bring as much continuity as she does change. Compared to Biden, who is regarded as perhaps the most pro-Israel president in American history, Harris doesn’t have the same deep-seated affinity for Israel, nor does she seemingly share Biden’s longstanding, if at times fractious, relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Harris, in an apparent snub, has opted against presiding over the Israeli premier’s contentious address to Congress this week; she is, however, expected to meet with him privately at another point during his visit.

The Vice President has proven herself to be more attuned to the concerns of Democratic voters who are increasingly perturbed by the immense suffering taking place in Gaza as a result of Israeli bombardment backed and funded by the U.S. She was the first senior administration official to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, and openly took the Israeli government to task for not doing enough to help ease the “humanitarian catastrophe,” lamenting that “too many innocent Palestinians have been killed.” While Biden did eventually come around to these positions, Harris was seen to do so first, and more forcefully.

“Her language was the most humanizing when it came to the Palestinians—or, at the very least, the least dehumanizing to the Palestinians,” says Hala Rharrit, a former Arabic language spokesperson for the State Department who resigned earlier this year in protest of the Biden administration’s Gaza policy. “When we were actually seeking to amplify certain messaging from the administration to the Arab world, we would often pull out from her speeches.”

Still, observers warn that rhetorical differences between Harris and Biden don’t necessarily presage major policy deviations. Harris, like Biden, has repeatedly pledged support for Israel’s security and self-defense. She has also dismissed calls by her fellow lawmakers to introduce conditions on aid to Israel, in line with U.S. law.