Vice President Kamala Harris met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the White House on Thursday afternoon.
The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee and Netanyahu shook hands and briefly exchanged pleasantries before posing for photos. Press was present for the meeting, but the pair took no questions.
“Welcome, Mr. Prime Minister, and I look forward to our conversation. We have lots to talk about,” Harris said.
Kamala Harris and Benjamin Netanyahu just did a photo-op before their meeting.
“Welcome, Mr. Prime Minister, and I look forward to our conversation. We have lots to talk about.” pic.twitter.com/LrETqg3Zi8
— Kassy Akiva (@KassyAkiva) July 25, 2024
The meeting occurred in the Vice President’s ceremonial office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, across the street from the White house. It was Harris’s first meeting with a world leader since becoming the Democratic nominee. Netanyahu will meet with Harris’s opponent, former President Donald Trump, at Mar-a-Lago on Friday.
Outside the White House, protesters gathered with an effigy of Netanyahu in a prison jumpsuit and blood on its hands.
(Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Harris has been under fire in recent months for criticizing Israel and speaking favorably about the anti-Israel protests on America’s streets and campuses. In a March 3 speech in Selma, Alabama, Harris called for an “immediate ceasefire for at least the next six weeks” and accused Israel of not doing enough to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza.
“No excuses,” Harris said in the speech. “They must open new border crossings. They must not impose any unnecessary restrictions on the delivery of aid. They must ensure humanitarian personnel, sites, and convoys are not targeted.”
Hamas has repeatedly denied ceasefire offers, stolen aid, killed aid workers, the Jerusalem Post reported.
In response to the protests that have led to violence and graduation cancellations, Harris said in an interview that the protesters “are showing exactly what the human emotion should be, as a response to Gaza.”
“I understand the emotion behind it,” Harris added.
The vice president chose to not preside over Netanyahu’s address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, instead opting to attend a convention for the historically-black Zeta Phi Beta sorority in Indiana.
Harris has not always been so critical of Israel.
In 2017, she delivered a speech at an AIPAC conference where she declared “the bonds between the United States and Israel are unbreakable and we can never let anyone drive a wedge between us.” That year, then-Senator Harris and her husband visited Israel. It was the first trip to Israel for Emhoff, who is Jewish, but Harris’s third trip, The Times of Israel reported.
Netanyahu met with Biden earlier on Thursday and delivered brief remarks about their decades-long relationship.
“Mr. President, we have known each other for 40 years, and you’ve known every Israeli prime minister for 50 years, from Golda Meir,” Netanyahu said. “From a proud Jewish Zionist to a proud Irish-American Zionist, I want to thank you for 50 years of public service and 50 years of support for the state of Israel.”
“I look forward to it as well,” Biden responded. “That first meeting with Prime Minister Golda Meir, and she had an assistant sitting next to me, a guy named Rabin, that’s how far back it goes,” he said referring to former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
Netanyahu and Biden also met with the families of American hostages at the White House.
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[[{“value”:”
Vice President Kamala Harris met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the White House on Thursday afternoon.
The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee and Netanyahu shook hands and briefly exchanged pleasantries before posing for photos. Press was present for the meeting, but the pair took no questions.
“Welcome, Mr. Prime Minister, and I look forward to our conversation. We have lots to talk about,” Harris said.
Kamala Harris and Benjamin Netanyahu just did a photo-op before their meeting.
“Welcome, Mr. Prime Minister, and I look forward to our conversation. We have lots to talk about.” pic.twitter.com/LrETqg3Zi8
— Kassy Akiva (@KassyAkiva) July 25, 2024
The meeting occurred in the Vice President’s ceremonial office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, across the street from the White house. It was Harris’s first meeting with a world leader since becoming the Democratic nominee. Netanyahu will meet with Harris’s opponent, former President Donald Trump, at Mar-a-Lago on Friday.
Outside the White House, protesters gathered with an effigy of Netanyahu in a prison jumpsuit and blood on its hands.
(Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Harris has been under fire in recent months for criticizing Israel and speaking favorably about the anti-Israel protests on America’s streets and campuses. In a March 3 speech in Selma, Alabama, Harris called for an “immediate ceasefire for at least the next six weeks” and accused Israel of not doing enough to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza.
“No excuses,” Harris said in the speech. “They must open new border crossings. They must not impose any unnecessary restrictions on the delivery of aid. They must ensure humanitarian personnel, sites, and convoys are not targeted.”
Hamas has repeatedly denied ceasefire offers, stolen aid, killed aid workers, the Jerusalem Post reported.
In response to the protests that have led to violence and graduation cancellations, Harris said in an interview that the protesters “are showing exactly what the human emotion should be, as a response to Gaza.”
“I understand the emotion behind it,” Harris added.
The vice president chose to not preside over Netanyahu’s address to a joint session of Congress on Wednesday, instead opting to attend a convention for the historically-black Zeta Phi Beta sorority in Indiana.
Harris has not always been so critical of Israel.
In 2017, she delivered a speech at an AIPAC conference where she declared “the bonds between the United States and Israel are unbreakable and we can never let anyone drive a wedge between us.” That year, then-Senator Harris and her husband visited Israel. It was the first trip to Israel for Emhoff, who is Jewish, but Harris’s third trip, The Times of Israel reported.
Netanyahu met with Biden earlier on Thursday and delivered brief remarks about their decades-long relationship.
“Mr. President, we have known each other for 40 years, and you’ve known every Israeli prime minister for 50 years, from Golda Meir,” Netanyahu said. “From a proud Jewish Zionist to a proud Irish-American Zionist, I want to thank you for 50 years of public service and 50 years of support for the state of Israel.”
“I look forward to it as well,” Biden responded. “That first meeting with Prime Minister Golda Meir, and she had an assistant sitting next to me, a guy named Rabin, that’s how far back it goes,” he said referring to former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
Netanyahu and Biden also met with the families of American hostages at the White House.
“}]]
