Times of Israel, September 12th, 2024
Recap:
US Vice President Kamala Harris and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump faced off in their first (and potentially last) debate before the 2024 elections.
The Context:
· Kamala Harris is the Democratic presidential candidate following President Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the race in July. Although Biden initially sought a second term, growing concerns about his age led him to pull out. Harris emerged as the most viable candidate due to the timing of Biden’s decision, her political experience compared to her competitors, and critically, her access to the fundraising infrastructure already in place for the Biden-Harris campaign. Donald Trump continues to wield significant influence in the Republican party and is making another bid at a second term, maintaining his claim that the 2020 election was stolen.
· Since becoming the Democratic Party’s nominee, Harris’s remarks on the Israel-Hamas conflict have been closely scrutinized by Israel’s supporters and critics for any signs of divergence with Biden, a longtime supporter of Israel. Despite intense diplomatic efforts, the administration has failed to broker a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas that would secure the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza [1]. Biden said this month that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not doing enough to secure a hostage deal but resisted calls to withhold military aid from Israel as leverage. Harris was the first senior Biden administration official to publicly call for an immediate ceasefire in March [2].
· During the debate, Harris asserted that Israel has the right to defend itself and that she’d always support that right, in an apparent reference to calls from those in her party to halt US military aid to Israel but criticized Israel for the high civilian death toll. Harris called for an immediate ceasefire & hostage deal and to “chart a course for a two state solution.”
· During Trump’s term as president, he moved the US embassy to Jerusalem, signed the Abraham Accords, pulled the US out of the Iran nuclear deal, and defended Israel’s settlement policies in the West Bank [3]. Instead of promoting these successes, Trump accused Harris of “hating” the Jewish state and said that under her watch Israel wouldn’t exist in 2 years. When asked how he would “negotiate with Netanyahu and also Hamas to get the hostages out and prevent the killing of more innocent civilians in Gaza,” Trump repeated his assertion that the war would have never started if he was president.
Conversation Points:
· What does the future hold if neither candidate has a clear strategy to address the Israel-Gaza conflict?
· Why didn’t Trump take the opportunity to score points with his pro-Israel base?
· Why didn’t Harris unconditionally express her support for Israel’s right to defend itself?
· How would a future two-state solution differ from the aftermath of Israel’s 2005 disengagement from Gaza?
Notes:
1. Top Foreign-Policy Moments from the Harris-Trump Debate, Foreign Policy, September 11th, 2024
2. Trump says Kamala Harris 'hates' Israel as she calls for end to Gaza war, AI Monitor, September 11th, 2024
3. Debate makes it clear: Trump has zero good ideas about Gaza and Israel, Forward, September 11th, 2024
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