(C) Common Dreams
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No Change in Gaza Policy? Really? [1]

['Stephen Semler', 'Shawn Fain', 'Brent Cebul', 'Lily Geismer', 'Isabella Weber', 'Jared Abbott', 'Hanieh Jodat', 'India Walton', 'Branko Marcetic', 'Waleed Shahid']

Date: 2025-01

In her first major interview since accepting the Democratic Party’s nomination, Kamala Harris said on Friday that her Israel policy will be no different than Joe Biden’s.

After noting that Biden’s policy had failed to bring an end to Israel’s protracted assault on Gaza, CNN’s Dana Bash asked the vice president, “Would you do anything differently? For example, would you withhold some US weapons shipments to Israel?”

Harris responded that Israel has the right to defend itself, recounted the horrors of October 7, lamented that far too many innocent Palestinians had been killed since then, and stressed that “we have to get a deal done” that would end hostilities and bring the hostages home. Bash then repeated her question: “But no change in policy in terms of arms and so forth?”

“No.” Harris replied, before reiterating the need for a cease-fire and hostage release deal. All told, Harris said “we have to get a deal done” four times.

Such a deal remains elusive because the United States continues to send weapons to Israel. A historic amount of US military aid enables the Netanyahu government in Israel to reject hostage release deals and instead sabotage cease-fire negotiations, extend its war on Gaza, and expand the war regionally.

Without a torrent of US weapons, Israel’s war machine would sputter to a halt. To quote retired Israeli general Yitzhak Brik, “All of our missiles, the ammunition, the precision-guided bombs, all the airplanes and bombs, it’s all from the US. The minute they turn off the tap, you can’t keep fighting. You have no capability. . . . Everyone understands that we can’t fight this war without the United States. Period,” he said.

In other words, an arms embargo unlocks the cease-fire, but Harris just ruled out implementing one.

This sums up the Biden administration’s policy: reassure the public that it’s working around the clock for a cease-fire while playing spoiler by arming Israel unconditionally in the background. Biden, Harris, and most of the Democratic Party are trying to cast the United States as the hopeful, impartial, and ultimately powerless mediator and not the chief enabler of the genocide in Gaza. It’s diplomatic theater.

Harris’s commitment to unconditional military aid is a tacit endorsement of Israel’s genocidal policy in Gaza, land grab in the West Bank, and escalation with Iran. Worryingly, Harris released a statement over the weekend that appeared to echo Benjamin Netanyahu’s call to fight indefinitely until Hamas is defeated, a strategic aim that disqualifies the possibility of a cease-fire. “The threat Hamas poses to the people of Israel — and American citizens in Israel — must be eliminated,” Harris’s statement read.

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[1] Url: https://jacobin.com/2024/09/harris-gaza-israel-arms-embargo

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