Vice-President Kamala Harris’ trip to West Asia over the weekend was both a major foray into wartime diplomacy and an effort to show that the administration is taking a harder line with Israel about the civilian toll of its war against Hamas.

The message was aimed at leaders in the region as Israel begins a new phase of the 8-week-old war, which has killed thousands of civilians. But the vice-president was also speaking to disaffected voters in the US, especially the young voters and people of colour who helped propel President Joe Biden to the White House in 2020.

Over the course of just three hours at the UN climate summit in Dubai, Harris juggled four high-stakes meetings or calls with kings and presidents. Her message on the war, privately and publicly, was one of the most pointed pronouncements from any American official — including Biden — establishing guidelines for how Israel should fight its war and what the country should do once the fighting is over.

“Under no circumstances,” her office wrote in describing her remarks in a face-to-face meeting with President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt, “will the United States permit the forced relocation of Palestinians from Gaza or the West Bank, the besiegement of Gaza, or the redrawing of the borders of Gaza.”

Jake Sullivan, the President’s national security adviser, said on Monday that “there’s no daylight” between the vice-president and Biden, who have both expressed support for Israel and talked about the need to protect civilians in the Gaza Strip. White House officials said Biden himself has been blunt with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in many conversations.

But over the weekend, Harris was the messenger of choice to deliver that admonition in a very public way.

Her comments echoed secretary of state Antony Blinken, who said in Israel last week that it was imperative that Israel have a “clear plan in place that puts a premium on protecting civilians”. And on Saturday, defence secretary Lloyd Austin warned in a speech that if Israel drives civilians into the arms of terrorists, it would risk replacing “a tactical victory with a strategic defeat”.

For the vice-president, the trip was a chance to seize the international spotlight in a way that has not happened despite several overseas trips in the past year. Biden prides himself on a half-century of global engagements, but Harris has begun building her own history of relationships with leaders in the region.

New York Times News Service