Gaza is the one thing Kamala Harris and Donald Trump agree on

 By James M. Dorsey

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US presidential candidates Kamal Harris and Donald J. Trump are at each other’s throats, but there is one thing they agree on: The Gaza war must end.

It’s the one kind of agreement Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu didn’t want to hear within 24 hours of his address to the US Congress that was choreographed to project unbridled support for the Gaza war.

Donald Trump meets Binyamin Netanyahu in Mar-a-Lago: Credit: Israeli Government Press Office

Ms. Harris and Mr. Trump have different reasons for wanting the war to end with the US vice-president’s stance likely to be more consequential than that of her Republican rival.

Mr. Trump couched his insistence that Israel should “finish up and get it done quickly” in terms of the significant self-inflicted reputational damage Israel has suffered as the result of its war conduct.

More likely, Mr. Trump wants to ensure that the Gaza war doesn’t sit at the top of his agenda should he emerge victorious from the November election.

In contrast to US President Joe Biden’s refusal to express heartfelt compassion for the plight of 2.3 million Gazans, Ms. Harris put the pain suffered by Palestinians at the core of her demand for a ceasefire.

“We cannot look away in the face of these tragedies. We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering, and I will not be silent,” Ms. Harris said.

What Ms. Harris did not say but implied was that support for Israel did not mean support for Mr. Netanyahu and his policies.

In response to Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris’ insistence on a ceasefire, Mr. Netanyahu appeared to put their determination to the test.

Ceasefire negotiators asserted shortly after Mr. Netanyahu’s meetings with the president and vice-president that the prime minister was wittingly complicating talks by demanding Israel screen displaced Palestinians that would be allow to return to northern Gaza as part of a ceasefire.

Mr. Netanyahu was insisting the screening was necessary to prevent supporters of Hamas to return to areas where Israel has failed to dislodge Hamas, the negotiators said.

"Netanyahu is knowingly trying to put the negotiations in crisis because he thinks he can improve positions. He has hinted to that effect in recent conversations. That's taking an uncalculated risk with the hostages' lives," said an Israeli negotiator.

"The negotiating team told the prime minister in the clearest possible way, ‘We won't find a mechanism in the coming weeks that would prevent an increase in armed men that would be acceptable to Hamas. It's a death blow to the negotiations,” the negotiator added.

CIA Director Bill Burns was scheduled to meet in Rome this weekend with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Abdul Rahman al-Thani, David Barnea, the director of Israel’s foreign intelligence service, Mossad, and Egyptian spy chief Abbas Kamel to discuss the ceasefire deal and exchange of Hamas-held hostages for Palestinians incarcerated in Israel.

Leaving aside the different moral and ethical drivers that make Gaza a rare, if not unique, point of agreement between the presidential candidates, Ms. Harris, in contrast to Mr. Trump, will have a greater influence on immediate US policy as both vice-president and the Democratic Party’s presumptive candidate.

Protest against Kamala Harris. Credit: AFP

As the candidate, Ms. Harris is likely to garner Mr. Biden’s support in her efforts to rewin the endorsement of segments of the American electorate unwilling to vote for either Mr. Trump or Mr. Biden, who earlier this month withdrew from the presidential race because of his uncritical support for Israel.

These segments include Arab and Muslim Americans and increasingly critical segments of the Jewish community, students, and youth, for whom Gaza is as much a humanitarian issue as it is a matter of social justice.

Ms. Harris’ shift in emphasis is not simply a politically astute move but also a reflection of generational differences and cultural background compared to Mr. Biden, for whom unconditional support of Israel has been a fixture of his political career.

Source: X

Ms. Harris’ insistence on a ceasefire and expressed empathy with the Palestinians fit shifts in degrees of support for Israel symbolised by developments in the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court, two of the world’s highest legal bodies.

In response to an International Court of Justice opinion, issued earlier this month at the request of the United Nations General Assembly that Israel’s 57-year-long occupation of Palestinian land is illegal and should end as soon as possible, the Biden administration refrained from denouncing the core of the court’s position.

Instead, the administration objected to the “breadth” and the timing of the opinion, arguing that it would complicate efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The opinion, certain to figure prominently in the United Nations General Assembly’s proceedings in September, attended by numerous heads of government and state, is likely to put the United States in a delicate diplomatic position.

A banner on London’s Westminster Bridge in front of British Parliament. Credit: AFP

Similarly, in a sign of the times, Britain’s newly elected Labour government dropped British opposition to International Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan’s request for arrest warrants for Mr. Netanyahu and his defence minister, Yoav Gallant.

The move signalled a more critical British attitude towards Israel under Labour.

“The government feels very strongly about the rule of law internationally and domestically and the separation of powers,” a spokeswoman said.

Britain’s former Conservative Party government, which lost elections earlier this month, planned to join the United States, Germany, Argentina, and various civil society groups to challenge the court’s jurisdiction.

The interventions delayed the court’s decision on whether to issue the warrants for the Israeli officials as well as three leaders of Hamas.

Further indicating a shift in policy, Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced Britain would restore funding to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNWRA), the foremost humanitarian group operating in Gaza.

Britain was one of 17 countries that suspended funding after Israel claimed in January that 12 UNRWA employees had participated in Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel. Israel failed to substantiate its claim. Fifteen of the 17 countries have reinstated their funding, with the United States and Iceland as outliers.

UNRWA Deputy Commissioner General Antonia De Meo briefs the UN Security Council. Credit: UN Media

Briefing the United Nations Security Council this week, UNRWA Deputy Commissioner General Antonia De Meo called on the international community “to protect the mandate of UNRWA including within the framework of a (post-war) transition.”

Ms. De Meo noted that the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, had approved the first readings of three draft bills seeking a halt to the group’s operations in occupied East Jerusalem, revoking privileges and immunities afforded to UNRWA since 1949, and designating UNRWA a terrorist organization.

Israel’s moves against UNRWA are part of a broader campaign that aims to create an educational and cultural environment that would de-emphasise Palestinian national aspirations and insistence on the right to resist occupation and groom a generation more amenable to Israeli tutelage.

Meanwhile, Mr. Lammy is reportedly planning to impose a partial ban on weapon sales to Israel. The ban would involve “offensive” rather than “defensive” weapons that Israel could use to defend itself against attacks from beyond its borders.

Britain’s newly appointed attorney general, Richard Hermer, travelled to Israel this week to discuss the government’s revised position on the arrest warrants and the potential partial arms embargo that could be announced as early as next week.

“Israel’s allies are trying to increase the pressure because they feel don’t have an impact diplomatically,” said Israel scholar Yossi Mekelberg, referring to Israel’s persistent refusal to heed calls by its supporters and the international community for an end to the war.

Dr. James M. Dorsey is an Adjunct Senior Fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, and the author of the syndicated column and podcast, The Turbulent World with James M. Dorsey.