Harris: We cannot look away from ‘dire’ suffering in Gaza
Vice President Kamala Harris has spoken after her meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
She spoke frequently about the suffering in Gaza and told those in the US calling for a ceasefire “I see you, I hear you”, while also reiterating her support for Israel’s right to defend itself.
Harris also said she had a “frank and constructive meeting” with Netanyahu and reiterated her “unwavering commitment” to the US ally’s security.
Harris: Israel’s war on Gaza ‘is not a binary issue’
Here are more comments from Vice President Kamala Harris after her meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Thursday:
“What has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating. The images of dead children and desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety sometimes displaced for the second, third or fourth time. We cannot look away in the face of these tragedies. We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering, and I will not be silent,” Harris said.
“However, too often, the conversation [about Israel’s war on Gaza] is binary when the reality is anything but. So I asked my fellow Americans to help encourage efforts to acknowledge the complexity, the nuance, and the history of the region,” Harris said.
US vice president addresses ‘absolute horror’ of life in Gaza for Palestinians
What we heard from Vice President Kamala Harris … were very different comments from other Biden administration officials.
Of course, there was the usual ironclad support for Israel. But then, more than we have heard from pretty much any US politician at this level, there was a lot of discussion about the absolute horror that the people in Gaza are living through and dying.
She talked about the number of starvations. The number of people who are food insecure. The number of people who have had to move several times.
She talked about seeing pictures of dead children. You don’t see that in the US media. You don’t see it on the front pages of newspapers. Almost hardly at all. There is very little discussion about the plight of the people in Gaza.
So she did spend quite a bit of time talking about that.
But, I think the line that really summed up what her meeting was – what the message was for the Israeli prime minister – she said, talking about a ceasefire: It’s time to get this done.
Harris – We can’t look away from Palestinian suffering
US Vice President Kamala Harris has called for an urgent Gaza ceasefire after her meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington on Thursday. She also pledged to secure the release of captives and improve conditions for Palestinians, describing her talks with Netanyahu as “frank and constructive”.
Rami Khouri, a public policy fellow at the American University of Beirut, joins Al Jazeera to discuss Harris’s comments:
