Kamala Harris vows to ‘always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself’

Kamala Harris has vowed to “always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself” as she accepted the Democratic presidential nomination with a rousing speech.

Delivering her highly anticipated Democratic National Convention address in Chicago, Harris condemned the Hamas attacks against Israel on 7 October and mourned the “many innocent lives lost” in Gaza.

She added:””Let me be clear, I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself, and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself, because the people of Israel must never again face the horror that a terrorist organization called Hamas caused on Oct. 7, including unspeakable sexual violence and the massacre of young people at a music festival.” 

This section of her speech appeared to counter suggestions that Harris would resist calls from some in the Democratic Party to move towards a more pro-Palestinian position. 

In a position on the Middle East that appeared to mirror that of the UK Labour Party, Harris also called for a peace process which would eventually mean “the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination.”

She continued: “At the same time, what has happened in Gaza over the past 10 months is devastating. So many innocent lives lost. Desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety, over and over again. The scale of suffering is heartbreaking.”

Addressing the current attempt to bring about an end to war in Gaza Harris  added:”“President Biden and I are working around the clock because now is the time to get a hostage deal and ceasefire done.

“President Biden and I are working to end this war such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends..”

Harris also warned that if Donald Trump returned to the White House would resurrect the “chaos and calamity” of his first presidential term.

She condemned Trump’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, blaming him for the January 6 attack on the US Capitol, and reminded voters of his many legal battles since leaving office.

Earlier in the convention, Harris’s husband Doug Emhoff, who is Jewish, had said that she helped him connect more deeply to his faith.

Outgoing President Biden also addressed the conflict in his convention speech on Monday, saying his administration is trying to “prevent a wider war.” 

“We’re working around the clock — my secretary of state — to prevent a wider war and reunite hostages with their families and surge humanitarian health and food assistance into Gaza now to end the civilian suffering of the Palestinian people and finally, finally, finally deliver a cease-fire and end this war.”

He added, “Those protesters out in the street, they have a point. A lot of innocent people are being killed on both sides.”

On Tuesday  the parents of one of the American hostages still being held by Hamas spoke about their son, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, whose arm was blown off by Hamas before he was loaded into a pickup truck and taken into Gaza. 

“That was 320 days ago,” his mother, Rachel Goldberg-Polin told delegates at the DNC. 

“Since then, we live on another planet. Anyone who is a parent or has had a parent can try to imagine the anguish and misery that Jon and I and all the hostage families are enduring.”