Vice President Kamala Harris gave a full-throated defense of Israel in her annual convention speech Thursday night, echoing President Joe Biden’s language that has drawn criticism from pro-Palestinian protesters.
Harris, who spoke for a long part of his acceptance speech about the war in Gaza, also expressed his sympathy for the innocent lives lost and called for a ceasefire agreement.
The war caused tension in the meeting. Pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrated outside the congress hall every night. Delegates in the arena, elected “non-aligned” in a protest vote against Biden’s support for Israel, had tried to bargain for speaking time but were denied. Several protested silently at different points of the week.
“Let me be clear, I will always defend Israel’s right to defend itself and I will always make sure that Israel has the ability to defend itself because the people of Israel will never again have to face the horror that was inflicted on October 7 by a terrorist organization called Hamas, including unspeakable sexual violence and a massacre of young people at a music festival,” Harris said.
He continued: “At the same time, what has happened in Gaza over the last 10 months is devastating. So many innocent lives lost. Desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety again and again. The scale of the suffering is heartbreaking.”
Harris said he and Biden are working to end the war in Gaza so that “Israel is safe” and the hostages are freed, and that “the suffering in Gaza ends and the Palestinians can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination.”
His comments came as he faced pressure from some members of the Democratic Party who wanted him to break with Biden over his support for Israel.
On Wednesday night, the parents of an American hostage still 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 to Gaza.
“That was 320 days ago,” said his mother, Rachel Goldberg-Polin. “Since then we have been living on another planet. Anyone who is a parent or has had a parent can try to imagine the pain and misery that Jon and I and all the hostage families are going through.”
Earlier this week, Foreign Minister Antony Blinken said that Israel had accepted a US proposal to move forward with negotiations on a possible ceasefire. However, he warned that it was “probably the best, maybe the last chance to get the hostages home, get a ceasefire and get everybody on a better path to lasting peace and security.”
Biden also addressed the conflict in his convention speech Monday night, saying his administration is trying to “prevent a wider war.”
“We are working around the clock – Secretary of State – to prevent a wider war and reunite the hostages with their families and get humanitarian health and food aid to Gaza now to end the civilian suffering of the Palestinian people and finally, finally, finally, let’s have a ceasefire and end this war.”
He added: “These protesters in the street have a point. A lot of innocent people are being killed on both sides.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
