In her first interview as the Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris told CNN it was imperative to reach a ceasefire deal in Gaza, but made it clear that she would not alter President Joe Biden’s policy in the region.

However, when pressed on whether she would stop sending weapons to Israel she told Bash, “No, we have to get a deal done, Dana. We have to get a deal done.”

“Adopting an arms embargo against Israel’s assault on Gaza is not only a moral imperative but also a strategic move to defeat Trump and MAGA extremism. It is difficult for the Democratic candidate to champion democracy while arming Netanyahu’s authoritarian regime” reads a recent letter to Harris from the coalition Not Another Bomb.

Recent polling has repeatedly demonstrated that Democratic voters overwhelmingly support the conditioning of U.S. military aid. A Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) survey from March found that 52% of Americans want the U.S. to halt weapons shipments to Israel in order to force a ceasefire. 62% of Biden voters said “The US should stop weapons shipments to Israel until Israel discontinues its attacks on the people of Gaza,” while only 14% disagreed with the statement.

The numbers from a June CBS News poll were even higher, with more than 60% of all voters and almost 80% of Democrats saying the U.S. shouldn’t send Israel weapons.

“The real question should have been, ‘When are you going to start enforcing U.S. law as it relates to arms shipments’ because what we are doing right now, with this United States policy, is in violation of not just international law, but also of American law, “said the Arab Center’s Yousef Munayyer in an interview with Democracy Now in response to the CNN segment. “Vice-President Harris made it clear in other parts of her interview that she wants to be a prosecutor. She wants to enforce the law, but Israel is clearly getting an exception from the Harris campaign.”

  • Jamil@lemm.ee
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    3 months ago

    80% of her base wants to stop sending weapons to Israel. Where the fuck is democracy?

    • Zaktor
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      At least during this period of anger we won’t have to also deal with the gnawing realization that they’re 100% going to lose. Harris may still lose, and this could certainly help her along the way, but it’s not a certainty, which is kind of better?

    • kent_eh@lemmy.ca
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      3 months ago

      Checkout Trump’s history of making his “close personal friend” Bibi happy if you want to be even more angry.

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      Yeah. I suspect many of us knew her stance on this issue before she said it but she really did not need to say it.

      I appreciate the honesty but I do wish that she would avoid this one topic in particular. This is an issue that younger voters feel very strongly about. Younger voter turnout may not be good anyways, but I would really do my best to avoid upsetting that crowd. We’re not trying to make people go back to feeling apathetic regarding the election again.

    • suction@lemmy.world
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      Right because Trump will nuke Israel and single-handedly create a Palestinian state from the mountains to the sea. So definitely vote for him.

      • meowMix2525@lemm.ee
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        I don’t know if you’ve noticed but the last 10 months have taken place under the Biden administration.

        Edit: also nobody wants that wtf are you talking about

      • K1nsey6@lemmy.ml
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        Biden/Harris Is providing enough money and weapons for Netanyahu to finish the job. While shitlibs are terrified of what Trump MIGHT do, they are distracted from whats actually happening

    • takeda@lemmy.world
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      What? Trump advocates to completely glass Palestine. Biden position is to not block Israel from purchasing weapons, but also not getting dragged into a war itself and in fact getting out of Middle East. This is the real reason why West pushes so hard for EVs. US wants completely out, and if Israel wants to fight then let them use their own resources. Bibi would love if US instead of providing weapons would enter and do the job for them.

          • Keeponstalin@lemmy.worldOP
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            That page literally doesn’t reference likely voters at all. Do you just somehow think all Jewish people are a monolith? There are plenty of Jewish people against the genocide

            We know for a fact that there are hundreds of thousands of likely voters in each swing state that would enthusiasticly vote for Harris if she changed position on Israel

            • PriorityMotif@lemmy.world
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              Jews have statistical higher voter turnout than other groups. They’re overwhelmingly Democrats. Many have bought into the Israel criticism = antisemitism. Israel has a lot of influence and can easily help the Republicans win. There are rich Jews who donate to the Democrats. The Democrats also have down ballot races to worry about.

              https://library.fiveable.me/sociology-of-religion/unit-6/religious-voting-behavior/study-guide/CsjUqX3QciF9nQc3

              • Keeponstalin@lemmy.worldOP
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                You get that’s general findings from a global poll right? When you look at US polling on the issue, it’s pretty clear

                Recent polling has repeatedly demonstrated that Democratic voters overwhelmingly support the conditioning of U.S. military aid. A Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) survey from March found that 52% of Americans want the U.S. to halt weapons shipments to Israel in order to force a ceasefire. 62% of Biden voters said “The US should stop weapons shipments to Israel until Israel discontinues its attacks on the people of Gaza,” while only 14% disagreed with the statement.

                The numbers from a June CBS News poll were even higher, with more than 60% of all voters and almost 80% of Democrats saying the U.S. shouldn’t send Israel weapons.

                In case you ignored the polls from the article. Here’s another:

                An April 2024 poll of likely voters across the U.S. found that 30% strongly supported withholding military funds to Israel until the attacks on Gaza stop; another 25% somewhat supported that conditional aid policy.

                Below we asked all respondents what minimum combination of policies would secure (for non-Biden voters) or solidify (for Biden voters) a vote for Biden for President. A third or more voters in every state except Minnesota said a lasting ceasefire was among the minimum policies that would be needed to secure solidify their votes

                Although voters are split on whether they approve or disapprove of Biden’s handling of the war, the vast majority (≥ ~75%) across all states still support an immediate and permanent ceasefire. Only a small minority of voters, from 11.2% to 16.1% in Minnesota and Pennsylvania, respectively, strongly approve of the President’s approach on Gaza. Of those, the vast majority in each state (≥64%) strongly support an immediate and permanent ceasefire. That is to say, a change in approach would not lose those votes, but staying on the current path risks doing so.

  • MentalEdge
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    3 months ago

    Why?

    Seriously! Why!?

    I don’t remotely understand this policy, and it seems that pretty much noone would vote for it if they could avoid doing so.

    • Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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      Israel is the country equivalent of the US sending an aircraft carrier outside a country it has tenuous relations with yet wants favorable trade. It’s how they cement the Petro-Dollar as the global currency and dominate financial capital.

      Ceasing support for Israel risks hurting US profits, so the US has a monetary interest in propping up the genocidal campaign while pretending to push for a ceasefire to appease domestic tensions, however poorly.

    • ShinkanTrain@lemmy.ml
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      We gotta make AIPAC happy or else they might stop paying for Pelosi’s yacht.

      • takeda@lemmy.world
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        US was saying this over and over and it is finally doing it, which is getting out of Middle East and letting them on their own. This is why there’s also so hard push for EVs.

        The policy is to allow selling weapons, not to give them, it is also not what Bibi hopes that US will enter another war and fight on his behalf.

        • K1nsey6@lemmy.ml
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          Trying to claim that the US is trying to get out of the Middle East is both infantile and asinine. As long as there’s natural resources to be stolen, the US will be there. If there was such a fight for EV’s, the US wouldn’t be blocking Chinese EV’s from entering the market.

          • takeda@lemmy.world
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            If there was such a fight for EV’s, the US wouldn’t be blocking Chinese EV’s from entering the market.

            So it would switch from being dependent on Saudi Arabia to China?

            • K1nsey6@lemmy.ml
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              If China made a superior product at a good price, yes, I would buy Chinese.

                • K1nsey6@lemmy.ml
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                  China doesn’t need to kill off western manufacturers, the West did that. Capitalism has turned the US from a predominantly manufacturing country to a predominant customer service country.

    • CluckN@lemmy.world
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      Her husband also made a pledge to, “fight antisemitism” when asked about Israel’s crimes.

      • takeda@lemmy.world
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        Actually this is the opposite. Israel wants US involved and start another war on their behalf. US is pissed and saying what it was saying for a while, that it is getting out of Middle East. If Israel wants to fight a war, US won’t block them from purchasing weapons, but they are on their own.

  • beliquititious@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    How hard is it to field a presidential candidate that is not a senior citizen and who doesn’t wish to remain allies with countries engaged in genocide?

    • weew@lemmy.ca
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      The problem is that the countries engaged in genocide allow the US a foothold in the middle East, so they can basically get away with anything. Losing that means throwing away all the military and strategic advantage in that region.

      Tl;dr you may as well wish for a president that wants to demilitarize the US

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        Honestly, I think it might be a deal breaker for me in November. I’m willing to put up with a lot of meat-brained nonsense, but dead children so out soldiers can have an easier commute to kill more is a nonstarter.

        If I do decide not to vote in a few months, and not voting gives Trump the presidency, it’s what we deserve.

    • Cowbee [he/him]@lemmy.ml
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      There are several, Claudia De La Cruz and Jill Stein. The problem is that the US isn’t a democracy and never was.

    • yeather@lemmy.ca
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      My god what an apt description for American polititcs. (Illegal) Aliens vs. (Sexual) Predators.

      • Crikeste@lemm.ee
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        Illegal ‘aliens’ are NOWHERE close to sexual predators by nature.

        Hell, by nature, illegal immigrants are more civil and respectable than ANY ‘natural born American’. Every metric and statistic will show you that.

  • Bertuccio@lemmy.world
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    I didn’t expect this at all and am deeply hurt.

    I really thought the handpicked second most powerful person in the country would differ significantly in policies from the people who handpicked her.

    • Dharma Curious (he/him)@slrpnk.net
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      Clearly the most efficient way to stop this genocide is to wait until all the Palestinians have been murdered. Then no more can be murdered. Thus no more genocide. Obviously you just don’t understand the complexities of the situation. It’s the only way to ensure the genocide stops!

      I fucking hate myself for knowing that I’ll be voting for her. Jesus

      • III@lemmy.world
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        I would hate myself voting for or not voting against a candidate who will only increase support for genocide.

        I understand your frustration with the Harris option but am glad you are willing to still vote. So many others seem be happy allowing things to become worse just because they can’t make it better, which is an even less moral response.

      • K1nsey6@lemmy.ml
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        Then don’t vote for her, It’s very simple. If you keep rewarding politicians for bad behavior, that behavior never gets better. It’s like giving a dog a cookie every time it pisses on the floor. The dog assumes that you want it to piss on the floor.

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    As much as I hate to admit this, I don’t think this will change my opinion on her. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s incredibly fucked up that they continue to give them the weapons they use to murder civilians. But I also know that pretty much every president that has been elected since Israel has existed as a country would do exactly the same. The vast majority of politicians are spineless when it comes to Israel and always will be, regardless of party affiliation. No matter who gets elected it will always be the same answer with varying degrees of severity. And even if Harris wanted to do something about it, do you really think she would say anything new until she knew for a fact she was going to win? She’d get ostracized by the majority of her own party and potentially lose a bunch of those fancy endorsements she just received.

    I’m not saying it’s right. In fact, it’s so fucked up it makes my blood boil. I’m just saying that politicians are fucking cowards and always will be.

    • sub_ubi@lemmy.ml
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      But I also know that pretty much every president that has been elected since Israel has existed as a country would do exactly the same.

      Your knowledge is incorrect. Please seek out better sources.

      Reagan said Israel is carrying out a holocaust, and stopped them with a single phonecall. Bush Sr. stopped them by threatening arms embargo as well. Eisenhower and Ford couldn’t stomach their bloodlust either and called them off.

      Israel is a client state of the US, it’s best to think of it as the 51st state. They do what they’re told.

        • K1nsey6@lemmy.ml
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          Not just Reagan, Margaret Thatcher did the same thing. Imagine being to the right of people like Reagan and Thatcher.

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        That’s what people forget, all it takes is one phone call from a US Pres. Israel is nobody.

        • kent_eh@lemmy.ca
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          all it takes is one phone call from a US Pres

          What an amazingly simplistic view of geopolitics.

        • yeather@lemmy.ca
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          Israel is a nuclear client state. One overzealous president is all it takes to launch a nuke at Pakistan and cause a global calamity.

      • Saff@lemmy.ml
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        What does trump say? Ultimately that’s the only person you need to compare Harris to.

        • sub_ubi@lemmy.ml
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          Pretty similar, promising to negotiate a deal to end the slaughter asap. But there’s no reason to believe any candidate wants to end the genocide.

          If you’re an American who pays for the killing, you should act in solidarity with the victims and their relatives. There should be an #uncommitted group in your state, see what they recommend.

            • sub_ubi@lemmy.ml
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              The average American has far more power over the genocide than most everyone else in the world, including Palestinians. Any act of resistance an American makes is amplified.

              • Saff@lemmy.ml
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                My point is though they only have two options, and both of those options are happy to continue funding war crimes. They are stuck between a rock and a hard place. Yet people on this platform like to make out that generic mr smith underpaid mechanic in the middle of the US is directly causing children to be murdered. Protesting is the only option but let’s be honest, that just gets ignored. So instead of these relentless posts about Harris continuing funding, why not try to focus on topics where the 2 parties differ to give the people an idea about which party might be best for them in other ways?

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                  As you said, protest is the only option. One form of protesting is not voting, or voting third party.

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                  There’s a very obvious third option that you’re ignoring.

                  You can’t even imagine it. It’s fascinating, really.

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    As a European citizen: is it really a possibility for any US president not to do so? (Honest question, since from Europe US’s policy is seen as supporting Israel no matter what)

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      Other presidents were able to restrain Israel from trying to enact a “final solution”