On the final, and most anticipated, night of the four-day Chicago convention, Harris, 59, promised to chart a “New Way Forward” as she and Trump, 78, enter the final 11 weeks of the razor-close campaign.
After days of protests from Palestinian supporters who were disappointed at not getting a speaking spot at the convention, Harris delivered a pledge to secure Israel, bring the hostages home from Gaza and end the war in the Palestinian enclave.
“Now is the time to get a hostage deal and a ceasefire deal done,” she said to cheers. “And let me be clear, I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself.”
“What has happened in Gaza over the past 10 months is devastating. So many innocent lives lost, desperate hungry people fleeing for safety over and over again. The scale of suffering is heartbreaking,” she said.
“And America, we must also be steadfast in advancing our security and values abroad.”
Values? Is this where she talks about compassion and justice, and creating a safer world through peace and de-escalation in the Middle East?
“As commander in chief, I will ensure America always has the strongest, most lethal fighting force in the world.”
Oh.
I get the sense that hawkish statement is more in regards to Russia than anything. I know Iran and N. Korea are up there, but when your old arch nemesis is invading neighbors, even Dems go hawkish.
Apart from pure domestic “tough” politics, I think China/Taiwan is the actual motivator for worrying about military strength. Russia has shown itself to be barely capable of fighting its neighbor. China sounds like it actually has weapons that are able to threaten our forces, and have been saber rattling against Taiwan.
Fair. I generally try to avoid calling them an enemy since they have very little to gain from a war with the US (at least for now) yet we know they want Taiwan (and probably more) which makes them a threat and a good reason to keep a strong military.
They just aren’t as outwardly hostile since they’re still a trade partner. For instance, if somehow an alliance formed in WW3 against “the West”, my money is on them prefering neutrality, similar to India. It’s just better for their country, even if they could use it to (temporarily) snag Taiwan. They’d much rather take Taiwan as a one-off.
But yeah, you’re right though even if they aren’t part of the “axis of evil”, lol
Here’s her speech… https://www.instagram.com/reel/C_BOYirumo-/
I mean, did you catch the relentless series of war-hawks that came out in series before her final speech?
I’ll choose to bend over backwards here in order to assume positive intent - Harris, as VP, has almost no power in the situation currently. Biden is literally one of, if not the most, Zionist presidents in the history of the US. Biden will never stop short of giving Israel everything and more, even as Netenyahu repeatedly embarrasses him and shows himself to be a fascist head of a terror state who considers Israel beyond reproach and above international law.
Once Kamala assumes the presidency, she will be able to act on her own authority. Let’s hope that moment brings a marked turn in American support of the unfolding genocide in Gaza. And if not, we can apply pressure on the Harris admin until she changes her tune. That wouldn’t be possible at all with Trump or Biden, so at least with Harris we have some glimmer of hope for the Palestinian people.
The best candidate for the us is someone who mayhaps possibly maybe but probably still support genocide
Yup, a completely true statement and a really good reason to vote for Harris…
Because the other fucker wants to accelerate genocide and, in the American system, you get two choices.
But if your heart is pure and you vote hard enough for a third party candidate, you can stop the genocide all by yourself!
She did say that, and also that there are horrors being inflicted in Gaza. Only her whole statement gives any idea what she’s talking about.
Her speech was right on both accounts though. Hamas did unspeakably terrible things in Israel. But that in no way excuses them from the suffering they are causing to civilians in Palestine.
To be honest, I expect her to back Israel, and that these words are just a way to temporarily placate the ones calling for an end to genocide. But at least she tried to broach the complexity of the situation.
She could do more. But I’ll take this approach for now, knowing we can keep pushing in the direction of liberating the Palestinian people, over “finish the job” Trump.
It was a pretty milquetoast acknowledgement of Israeli war crimes, without even mentioning them by name as the perpetrators. I would have hoped for at least something along the lines of:
The children of Gaza deserve better than to be trapped between a terrorist regime and an Israeli military, that, by their actions, shows that they do not value Palestinian lives as worthy of protection.
But I guess even that would have been too spicy for the pro-Israel lobby within the Democratic party. That said, I’ll take any public acknowledgement and push for a ceasefire over the current status quo. Much as I wish it were possible, I don’t think we’re ever gonna get a major figure in any political party to come out and say, for example “Israel is an deeply unjust nation that must reckon with the status of Palestinians if it wishes to become a true, legitimate democratic state.”
Clarification on the quote (Israel), was that actually in the quote, or subtext by you?
Actually asking
I’m not saying she isn’t exposing pro Israel opinions in general (edit as evidenced by your following quote) but it’s important to make it very very clear that you added it. Someone could copy paste your comment taking it as a true quote, which represents misinformation.
She basically ‘both sides’ that issue, which I guess is about as good as you’re going to get from someone wanting to win. To be fair, Hamas does suck, and so does the situation in Gaza, and if you stop there (as undecided voters do) then that message makes sense.
Too bad when you dig just a bit deeper, it’s quite hard to side with Israel, both in numbers dead and historical bullshit they’ve pulled. Unfortunate I don’t think you’ll change Dem messaging unless randos in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Nevada, etc, are willing to learn more and change their stance. That’s who that language is for.
But these are people who are undecided, they’re likely the least informed people on the planet earth, and that includes people in comas.
Ever since the Biden administration redefined “ceasefire” to mean “hostage exchange pause” it’s become a meaningless term. The US needs to completely cut off arms support to Israel. That is the only ethical and moral action at this point. Anything less is abetting genocide.
So nothing different from current stance of watching Isreal trying to kill or displace everyone in Gaza plus possibly attacking everyone around them?
I’m honestly going to have to wait until the rubber actually hits the road (read: until she actually has the authority to meaningfully act and define national policy without AIPAC threatening to dump money into Trump’s wallet if she refuses to support Bibi’s agenda). I’m not being glib, or suggesting we ignore Gaza and the genocide there. All I’m saying is that I’m basically certain that there’s WAY more behind the scenes strong-arming-with-campaign-money going on here than most people are willing to admit.
All that said, if she doesn’t shift course relatively quickly once she clinches the election, my opinion on her stance on Gaza is going to change drastically.
Her speech was about increasing the war machine and never stopping support. So doubt she’ll change much but can hope. Not that hopes done much since Obama
While I do get what you’re saying on some level, I feel like you’re ignoring how much AIPAC’s threat of throwing their cash towards the fascists sucks the air out of the room and makes rational discussion of the topic extremely difficult.
I mean, she could spring it on everyone at the last minute. Like Friday before the election, come out in support of an arms embargo. It’s all anyone would be talking about and it wouldn’t matter how much money AIPAC shoves out the door.
Of course, she won’t, because we’ll keep unconditionally arming Netanyahu as he starts war after war to stay in power. If we don’t start sending troops to protect Netanyahu’s political career.
