Vice President Kamala Harris said on Thursday that Israel has a right to self-defence, but qualified that with, “how it does so matters”.
Former US President Donald Trump has slammed Vice President Kamala Harris’ remarks on the Israel-Hamas war as ‘disrespectful’.
He was speaking at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida where he held talks with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, their first face-to-face meeting in four years.
“She’s a radical left person. San Francisco, destroyed San Francisco. She’s really a destroyer. She doesn’t know how to build,” Trump said.
“I think her remarks were disrespectful. They weren’t very nice pertaining to Israel. I actually don’t know how a person who’s Jewish can vote for her, but that’s up to them.”
On Thursday, Netanyahu met outgoing president Joe Biden and his VP Harris at the White House for talks largely focused on the status of Gaza ceasefire negotiations.
Following her meeting with Netanyahu, Harris said it was time to the end the war and said she was concerned about the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, adding “I will not be silent”.
Asked if those remarks would have an impact on ongoing talks to strike a ceasefire, Netanyahu said, “I think to the extent that Hamas understands that there’s no daylight between Israel and the United States that expedites the deal. And I hope that those comments don’t change that.”
Harris has secured enough support among Democratic delegates to become the party’s nominee for November’s presidential race. That won’t, however, be made official until the national convention in Chicago next week.
Harris spoke on Thursday about her “unwavering commitment” to the existence of Israel and said the country has a right to self-defence, but added “how it does so matters.”
That’s raised questions about how support from the US, traditionally Israel’s strongest ally, might look different under a Harris presidency.
White House officials said on Thursday that ceasefire negotiations, which have stumbled along for weeks, are in the closing stages but there are still issues that need to be resolved.
Netaynahu said Israel is “eager” to see an end to the nine-month war in Gaza, but asked whether a deal was close said only, “I think time will tell”.
The Israeli military operation in Gaza was sparked by an incursion into Israel by Hamas on October 7 which saw around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, killed and a further 250 kidnapped and taken back to Gaza.
The IDF operation in Gaza has been devastating with at least 38,000 Palestinians killed and around 80% of the strip’s population displaced, in some cases more than once.
The fighting has destroyed at least 62% of all the homes in Gaza with the United Nations and the World Bank estimating that rebuilding the strip will cost around $18 billion (€16 billion)
Trump, the Republican nominee for November’s presidential race, and Netanyahu met in a bid to repair an important political alliance that had broken down after Netanyahu congratulated Joe Biden on his 2020 presidential victory over Trump.
But Trump dismissed questions that the relationship had hit a setback.
“It was never bad, I would say it was always good. No president has done what I’ve done for Israel and we’ve always had a very good relationship,” he said.