Harris 'Fully Supports' Hold on Large Munitions While Affirming Israel's Right to Self-Defence

US Vice-President Kamala Harris stated she supports the decision taken by President Joe Biden in May this year, to refrain from sending 2,000-pound bombs to Israel but reiterated support for the right of Israel to defend itself from Hamas.

One of the things that we have done that I'm entirely supportive of is the pause that we've put on the 2,000-pound bombs," Harris said on Tuesday during an onstage interview at a National Association of Black Journalists event where she was repeatedly pressed on why the US isn't using more leverage against Israel to end the war in Gaza.

Harris begins by tracing through what's basically become a stump speech that she recites on the Israel-Hamas war when the subject arises at campaign events.

She stressed: "The brutal nature of this onslaught, Hamas and Gaza committed on October 7; it's a basic fact that Israel has the right to defend itself; how Israel defends itself matters; too many Palestinian civilians have been killed; scenes coming out of Gaza are heart-wrenching; US officials working relentlessly on a ceasefire and hostage release deal to bring an end to the war as quickly as possible; there must ultimately be a two-state solution to the conflict; and Iran does not benefit from producing instability.

Democratic presidential nominee said she had been party to discussions with Israeli and Arab leaders in relation to the management of Gaza after the war and repeated that there could be no Israeli reoccupation of the Strip.
"But ultimately, the thing that is going to unlock everything else in that region is getting this (cease-fire) deal done," Harris said.

Biden said in May that he would withhold certain weapons shipments to Israel if Israel launched a major ground offensive in the densely populated southern Gaza city of Rafah. Some of those weapons have since been released. In August, the US approved $20 billion in arms sales to Israel.

At the beginning of a six-minute discussion about Israel and the war in Gaza, Harris made this claim that "this war has to end," and that there is only one way that the violence plaguing the region can end "and that is by getting a hostage deal and the cease-fire deal done".

"Stepping back, October 7, 1,200 Israelis were slaughtered, and actually, some Americans, by the way, in that number. Slaughtered. Young people who were attending a concert. Women were horribly raped. And yes, so I have said, Israel has a right to defend itself. We would," said Harris.

"How it does so matters, and far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed."

Harris was saying here what she has stood for since the October 7 Hamas attacks last year, and what she has reiterated just recently as the Democratic presidential nominee: support Israel's right to self-defense, back a two-state solution, support Biden's diplomatic efforts in the region, and condemn the killing of civilians in Gaza.

Involvement in talks with leaders of Israel, of the Arabs on the "day-after scenario" in Gaza led Harris to repeat the position of the Biden administration-asserting, that Gaza should not be occupied again, that the borders of Gaza have not changed, and that all are safe in the area.
"Now let us also recognize," she added, "that Iran is not empowered in this whole scenario in terms of the peace and stability of the region."