Vice-President Kamala Harris offered Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strong support for Israel’s right to defend itself from terrorism on Thursday but declared that “far too many innocent civilians” had died in the Gaza Strip and that “I will not be silent” about their suffering.

In what amounted to her debut on the world stage since her rapid ascension as the presumptive Democratic nominee for President, Harris sought to strike a balance and capture what she called “the complexity” of the strife in West Asia. But while she did not stray from President Joe Biden on policy, she struck a stronger tone on the plight of Palestinians.

“What has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating,” she told reporters after meeting with Netanyahu. “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.”

She noted that she had also met the families of Israeli hostages held by Hamas since its attack and expressed distress for their anguish. “I’ve told them each time they are not alone, and I stand with them,” she said. “And President Biden and I are working every day to bring them home.”

The contrast between the Prime Minister’s meetings with Harris and Biden on Thursday was striking. The President greeted Netanyahu cordially in the Oval Office. “Well, welcome back, Mr. Prime Minister,” Biden said as the two sat down. “We’ve got a lot to talk about. I think we should get to it.”

Harris, by contrast, was polite but businesslike in greeting Netanyahu in her ceremonial office in the building next to the White House, and the two offered no statements in front of the cameras as they began their 40-minute meeting. When she emerged afterwards to make her comments, she did so by herself, and the Israelis were surprised by her tone.

She reiterating her “unwavering commitment” to Israel's existence, and she condemned Hamas as a “brutal terrorist organisation” that had started the war when it “massacred 1,200 innocent people". “Israel has a right to defend itself,” she said, then added, “And how it does so matters.”

New York Times News Service