Hopes for ceasefire in Gaza tempered by difficult politics as Harris heads to Michigan
Vice President Kamala Harris speaks during a campaign event in Green Bay
By Kevin Liptak, CNN
(CNN) — When Vice President Kamala Harris stepped in front of reporters on Thursday to deliver a statement about the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the moment was a product of some careful choreography.
Harris was the first US official to say anything on camera about the monumental occasion. President Joe Biden, who was aboard Air Force One jetting toward Germany, had drafted a paper statement with his team hailing Sinwar’s death and calling for renewed ceasefire talks.
Biden’s statement hit inboxes at 2:10 p.m. ET. Harris walked out to cameras five minutes later. The moment was carefully coordinated between aides to the president and vice president.
The one-two step was a glimpse into the methodical approach to the conflict taken by Harris, who has been under scrutiny for her approach to the war but unwilling to break from Biden’s strategy.
For Harris, the complicated politics of the Middle East are unlikely to be made much easier by Sinwar’s demise. Standing outside the campaign event in Wisconsin where she was speaking Thursday, demonstrators kept up their pro-Palestinian chants.
And as she headed to Michigan a day later for a three-stop swing, the fraught politics were likely to continue dogging her. The Israel war has proven a complicating factor as the vice president looks for votes among the state’s large Arab- and Muslim-American population in the Detroit metro area.
Many in that community have said they cannot vote for Harris, angry over the Biden administration’s largely unequivocal support for Israel and refusal to limit most weapons to the country.
Despite the swell of political pressure, Harris has resisted describing how she might approach the conflict differently. She has instead pointed to the nascent ceasefire and hostage negotiations, which have been stalled for weeks.
Earlier this month, Harris met with Arab-American leaders in Michigan, where participants encouraged her to distance herself from Biden’s approach to the conflict.
On Thursday, however, there was little daylight in Biden and Harris’s approach. Both used Sinwar’s death to make renewed calls for restarting the hostage talks.
“This moment gives us an opportunity to finally end the war in Gaza,” Harris said during her three-minute speech, delivered carefully from a script and ended without taking any questions.
She said the war “must end such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom and self-determination.”
“It is time for the day after to begin,” she said.
Speaking hours later on the tarmac in Berlin, Biden said he’d congratulated Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu but also told him “now is the time to move on” from the war in Gaza.
“I talked with Bibi about that. We’re going to work out what is the day after now, how do we secure Gaza and move on,” he said.
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