(C) OpenDemocracy This story was originally published by OpenDemocracy and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . US elections: Kamala Harris on Gaza [1] [] Date: 2024-08 We do not yet have a full picture of Harris’s personal foreign policy approach. Her management of the US-Mexico border did not reflect her statements in 2018 that she would consider abolishing ICE, or Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a controversial agency established after 9/11 which has a record of sometimes cruel immigrant detention practices and family separation. She has also signalled she would continue Biden’s asylum policy, which in fact borrows from Trump’s virtual moratorium on asylum. Some feel that record is evidence enough that California’s former “Top Cop” and lead prosecutor would favour military solutions over diplomacy across the board. However, her personal team includes Philip Gordan as a national security advisor who served multiple Democratic administrations; Gordan supported the Iran Nuclear Deal which Trump dissolved and which Biden never renewed in favour of fostering Trump’s normalisation and weapons agreements with Saudi Arabia and the UAE. Gordon generally believes that decades of US interventionism has often misjudged the costs, consequences, and sustainability of such forceful strategy. Still, he has by no means strayed from traditional pro-Israel policies that prioritise the US-Israel relationship with the same failed policies: treating the blockade of Gaza as an acceptable steady-state policy, focusing on bolstering Israeli military support, and suggesting some concessions for Palestinians but no serious action to stop settlement expansion or end the military occupation – all of which have led to escalations as Palestinians seek self-determination. Indeed, those same policies formed the backdrop to the rise of the far-right Israeli regime, the attack of October 7th, and the present genocide. Gordon has said himself that Harris’s support for Israel is “ironclad.” Such policies would warrant serious reconsideration if Harris were to embrace a peace agenda. Gaza votes How important will these positions be for victory in November’s election? Polling is likely to shift in the coming months as voters are more exposed to Harris’s campaign. But so far, polls have been clear that Harris has little room for error and indeed, was even less popular than Biden or Trump earlier this year. The “battleground states” that will determine the election, like Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania, will likely be won by ≤ 50,000 votes – between 0.5 and 2 percentage points at most. Meanwhile, polling on ‘Gaza votes’ shows that the issue has become a point of no return for many progressives in their already hesitant support for the Democratic nominee, particularly one that represents continuity with the current Biden administration. Upwards of 1 in 5 Democratic or Independent voters in each of those battleground states said they were less likely to vote for Biden on account of Gaza – but the vast majority, over 60%, strongly support an immediate ceasefire and over half support conditioning aid to the Israeli military. That polling is explicit in asking voters what minimum policy changes would be needed to secure their votes, finding that an immediate and permanent ceasefire and ending military aid to Israel would secure the votes of over a fifth of Democrats and Independents in each of those key states. In the coming month, it will be crucial for Harris to show her cards when it comes to Palestine and the genocide in Gaza: will she back a total halt on weapons to the far-right Israeli regime to finally end the bloodshed that has taken the lives of over 186,000 Palestinians, most of them innocent women and children? Will she back strict conditions on aid to Israel to hold the regime accountable for war crimes, apartheid policies, and an ever-expanding military occupation and theft of Palestinian land? Several groups yesterday celebrated successful pro-Palestinian advocacy efforts to ensure Harris did not select a staunchly pro-Israel running mate like Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. Instead, she nominated midwestern Governor Tim Walz, with signals that Shapiro’s arendt Zionism was a liability. On Palestine, Walz similarly supports a two-state solution and has even voted in favour of a Congressional resolution opposing UN efforts to label Jewish-only settlements on Palestinian land as illegal. But more recently, he signaled openness to the “uncommitted” anti-genocide protest movement and has comparatively better rhetoric regarding Palestinians. Harris’s choice has provided some assurances to leftist voters concerned about Gaza, but most advocates emphasise that it changes little to end the US-enabled genocide and therefore, their votes. If she fails to provide such assurances through either staff or policy promises, she risks alienating a key margin of voters in swing states in particular: those more than half a million who voted “uncommitted” or uninstructed in state primary elections, and who will easily extend their anger at unjust warfare to her, as accomplice to “Genocide Joe” Biden. Harris will likely have to move beyond statements of sympathy to gain the support of a base that has watched over 80% of all homes in Gaza destroyed, all hospitals bombed, and over a million at risk of starvation because Israel has used hunger as a weapon of war. Many argue she will have to guarantee that no more bombs will be sent to Israel – to enforce compliance with an unconditional ceasefire. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/us-elections-kamala-harris-biden-gaza-israel-war/ Published and (C) by OpenDemocracy Content appears here under this condition or license: Creative Commons CC BY-ND 4.0. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/opendemocracy/