Harris ‘unwavering’ about Israel’s security, she says in High Holidays pitch to Jewish voters
“I will never stop fighting for the release of all the hostages, including, of course, the seven American citizens, living and deceased, who are still held,” Harris said.
U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, courted Jewish voters on Friday in a campaign call ahead of Yom Kippur.
Speaking on a “Jewish Voters for Harris-Walz” livestream, Harris touted her record of support for Israel and accused her Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump, of trafficking in anti-Jewish tropes.
“As president, it is my pledge that I will always ensure Israel has what it needs to defend itself from Iran and Iran-backed terrorists, and I will always support Israel’s right to defend itself,” she said on the call, which ran about 10 minutes and didn’t allow for questions. “My commitment to the security of Israel is unwavering.”
“As we have seen a rise in antisemitism in our own country, Trump has espoused dangerous and hateful antisemitic tropes creating fear and division,” she added. “He praised some of the neo-Nazi marchers in Charlottesville as ‘very fine people.’ He reportedly said Hitler did some ‘good things.’”
Trump has disputed that he was referring to neo-Nazis when he said that there were “very fine people” on “both sides” of the 2017 Charlottesville, Va., “Unite the Right” rally led by white supremacists. The former president has also denied making the positive comment about former Nazi leader Adolf Hitler, which was attributed to him by his former chief of staff John Kelly.
During the campaign call, Harris largely reiterated existing Biden administration positions on Middle Eastern issues. She said that she preferred a diplomatic solution to preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon but added that “all options are on the table,” an allusion to the potential use of military force.
She and the Biden administration continue to pursue a ceasefire-for-hostages deal with Hamas to end the war in Gaza, added Harris.
“It is time to bring the conflict to an end, and I am working to ensure it ends, such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, freedom and self-determination,” she said.
“I will never stop fighting for the release of all the hostages, including, of course, the seven American citizens, living and deceased, who are still held,” Harris said.
Her husband, Douglas Emhoff, who is Jewish, said on the call that as president, Harris would be a supporter of the U.S. Jewish community.
“I love being Jewish. I love the joy that comes with being Jewish, and Kamala, well, she shares that love with me,” Emhoff said. “When Kamala is president, she’s going to continue to stand up to fight against antisemitism and fight against hate in all of its forms, and she will continue to be a friend and advocate for the Jewish people.”
Jewish voters could play a deciding factor in key swing states like Pennsylvania and Michigan, where they make up 3.3% and 1.2% of the population, respectively, per the 2023 American Jewish Year Book.
Polls show inconsistent results about whether Jews, who traditionally vote overwhelmingly Democrat, are shifting towards Trump and the Republican Party.
In a poll that the Jewish Democratic Council of America released on Wednesday of key battleground states, 71% of Jewish voters said they would support Harris and just 26% said they would support Trump. Those figures would be largely consistent with election results in recent decades.
A Siena College poll in September of likely voters in New York, however, showed Trump with a 54% to 44% lead over Harris among Jewish respondents. Jews made up 8% of that poll’s 1,003-person sample.
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