What might Kamala Harris’ Mideast policy look like?
Washington —
The White House welcomed on Tuesday the rescue of an Israeli hostage abducted on October 7 by Hamas and said a Gaza cease-fire deal is being finalized.
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But even if an agreement is reached, a truce is unlikely to extend beyond the six weeks of phase one of the three-phase deal. The next U.S. administration will still inherit the role of managing tensions in the region.
Since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee, Vice President Kamala Harris has aimed to strike a balance between reaffirming U.S. support for Israel and advocating for Palestinian humanitarian needs — in essence, signaling a continuation of President Joe Biden’s policies on the Israel-Hamas war and, more broadly, the Middle East.
Harris summed up her position in her acceptance speech as the Democratic presidential nominee at the party’s convention in Chicago.
“President Biden and I are working to end this war 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,” she said.
Democrats are enthusiastic about Harris, even though she has not yet laid out her policies. And unlike Biden, a longtime member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, most of Harris’ exposure to foreign policy was during her tenure as vice president.
Not having “foreign policy baggage” might benefit Harris in the eyes of Democratic voters, said Natasha Hall, a senior fellow with the Middle East Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Hall pointed out that in October 2002, Biden was one of 77 senators who gave President George W. Bush the authority to use force in Iraq, a decision that eventually became a liability for Biden, much as his staunch support for Israel has become the most divisive issue in his party.
Adviser’s influence
Those looking to see whether Har