For months, Vice President Kamala Harris has walked a fine line on the conflict in Israel and Gaza. She has repeatedly and clearly condemned Hamas and expressed support for Israel’s right to eliminate the threat of the “brutal terrorist organization.” But she has also been critical of Israel’s military strategy, which she says has resulted in the death of “too many innocent Palestinians.”
The second part of Harris’ position has drawn fierce criticism in the last week from Republicans who argue that Harris, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, is equivocating on the issue, and that her sympathetic comments about Palestinians’ amounts to opposition to Israel. While some criticisms are opinion and a matter for political debate, some of the rhetoric attacking Harris goes too far and misrepresents her stated position.
In an interview on Fox Business News on July 25, Republican Sen. Rick Scott bluntly claimed that Harris “supports Hamas” and “works for the Hamas-loving part of her party.”