Netanyahu suggests Harris’ comments could hamper deal

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office suggested on Friday that comments by US Vice President Kamala Harris on the humanitarian situation in Gaza could “hinder an agreement” on the release of the hostages. A senior diplomatic source said this could happen “if Hamas interprets these comments as a sign of a rift between the United States and Israel.”

But if we examine the Democratic presidential candidate’s remarks, we see that they are no different from those made by President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump since the beginning of the war. Sources close to the negotiations said tonight that “the negotiating team is concerned that the demands that Netanyahu is introducing are designed to derail the process.” According to them, “he believes that if he toughens his position, Hamas will give in. But he is taking a dangerous risk with the lives of the hostages. There is no time to lose.”

Since the start of the war, senior US officials, including Biden and Harris, have repeatedly spoken about the harm done to the civilian population in Gaza, the humanitarian situation and the need for increased aid, as well as the need to end the war. After her meeting with Netanyahu, which Harris described as “frank and constructive.”

She stressed that she had underlined her “commitment to Israel and its security,” adding: “I told him that I will always ensure that Israel is able to defend itself, including against Iran and Iranian-backed militias, such as Hamas and Hezbollah. I have always been unwaveringly committed to the existence of the State of Israel, its security and the people of Israel.”

Ms Harris later said she had “expressed to the Prime Minister my deep concern about the scale of human suffering in Gaza, including the deaths of too many innocent civilians, and I made clear my deep concern about the dire humanitarian situation in the region. More than two million people face high levels of food insecurity and half a million people face catastrophic levels of acute food insecurity. We cannot afford to become insensitive to the suffering and I will not remain silent.”

President Biden has made similar statements in the past, including on February 9: “I have worked hard to get humanitarian aid to Gaza. There are a lot of innocent people starving, a lot of innocent people struggling and dying, and that has to stop. First.” Biden has even called Israel’s response to Gaza “over the top,” while also saying that “the United States wants to see Hamas defeated, but Israel has to do that while protecting civilians.”

On February 12, Biden again criticized Israel in his joint statement with King Abdullah of Jordan. “Over the past four months, as the war has raged, the Palestinian people have also suffered unimaginable suffering and loss. Too many of the more than 27,000 Palestinians killed in this conflict have been innocent civilians and children, including thousands of children.”

“Hundreds of thousands of people do not have access to food, water or other basic services. Many families have lost not one, but several loved ones and cannot grieve or even bury them because it is not safe. It is heartbreaking. Every innocent life (lost) in Gaza is a tragedy, just as every innocent life lost in Israel is also a tragedy,” he added.

On April 10, amid uncertainty over the Rafah operation and growing U.S. pressure to reach a ceasefire, Biden criticized Netanyahu’s conduct, saying, “I think what he’s doing is wrong. I don’t agree with his approach.” In an interview with Univision, Biden said, “What I’m asking is that the Israelis simply call a ceasefire and allow for the next six to eight weeks full access to all food and medicine coming into the country.”

About a month later, on May 19, the US president declared in a speech in Atlanta that there was a “humanitarian crisis in Gaza.” He renewed his call for an immediate ceasefire and said he was actively working to find a solution. “This is one of the most difficult and complicated problems in the world. There is nothing easy about it,” Biden said. “I know it angers and frustrates many of you, including my family. But most of all, I know it breaks your hearts. It breaks me, too.”

Donald Trump has also repeatedly called for an end to the war in Gaza. On March 17, for example, he said in a Fox News interview that Israel must end the war and delivered a message to Netanyahu: “You have to end it and do it quickly and get back to a world of peace. We need peace in the world. We need peace in the Middle East.”

In another interview with Time magazine in late April, the former president criticized Netanyahu’s conduct during the war, saying the October 7 terrorist attack “happened on his watch,” Trump said, adding that Netanyahu had been rightly criticized for failing to prevent the Hamas attack.

“They have the most sophisticated equipment,” Trump said of Israel. “They had everything they needed to stop this. And a lot of people knew about it, you know, thousands and thousands of people knew about it, but Israel didn’t know about it, and I think they’re being blamed for that.”

A few days after October 7, Rolling Stone magazine reported that Trump had privately called for Netanyahu’s ouster. According to the report, Trump expressed support for Netanyahu’s impeachment in several phone calls he has made with pro-Israel Republican figures since the Hamas terror attack. According to the report, based on two sources familiar with the conversations, the former president said the Knesset should “impeach” Netanyahu because the terror attack occurred on his watch. The sources also said Trump expressed hope that if reelected, Netanyahu would no longer be prime minister by the time he entered the White House in January 2025.