President Joe Biden is among the officials Harris has urged to show more sensitivity to Palestinian civilians, these people said.
In internal conversations about the war in Gaza, Harris has argued that it is time to start making “day after” plans for how to handle the wreckage of the war once the fighting ends, one senior administration official said.
One person close to the Vice President’s office said she believes the United States should be “tougher” on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and has called for being “more forceful at seeking a long-term peace and two-state solution.”
Kirsten Allen, Harris’ press secretary, said “there is no daylight between the president and the vice president, nor has there been” and that the two are aligned and “have been clear: Israel has a right and responsibility to defend itself; humanitarian aid must be allowed to flow into Gaza; innocent civilians must be protected; and the United States remains committed to a two-state solution.”
Beyond that, she added, “I would caution the media about citing anonymous sources in the ‘orbit’ about sensitive national security conversations between the president and vice president that take place in the Oval Office.”
Harris recently sent her national security adviser, Phil Gordon, to Israel at the head of a White House delegation that discussed “the day after” the war in Gaza.
The Vice President recently made clear that the US would not create any conditions for the aid it gives to Israel. However, Politico also noted that Biden, Harris and other administration officials have recently grown increasingly willing to criticize Israel’s approach to battling Hamas.
More recently, Harris reiterated that Israel had a right to defend itself — but added that “it matters how” Israel goes about that task.
Those remarks, made in Dubai during the COP 28 climate summit, represented her most prominent public involvement in the Israel-Hamas war so far, noted Politico.
