Right-wing Israeli lawmakers on Friday sharply criticized U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris' call for a ceasefire and her concern for the human suffering in Gaza, following her meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on Thursday.
In comments to reporters Thursday, Harris said she expressed her steadfast commitment to Israel and would always ensure that Israel is able to defend itself.
Harris, who is now the Democratic front-runner for president after US President Joe Biden withdrew from the race earlier this week, added, “Israel has the right to defend itself, but how it does so matters.”
Harris went on to say that he conveyed to Netanyahu his serious concerns about the scale of human suffering in Gaza, including the deaths of “too many innocent civilians.”
“We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering, and I will not be silent,” he said, urging negotiators to finalize a ceasefire deal to end the war.
From his account on social media platform X, Israeli Finance Minister and right-wing figure Bezalel Smotrich slammed Harris' comments, saying that his call for a ceasefire in Gaza was tantamount to a call for Israel to surrender.
“Kamala Harris revealed to the world what I have been saying for weeks, what is really behind the deal,” he wrote.
“(That is to) Surrender to (Hamas military leader) (Yahya) Sinwar, end the war in a way that allows Hamas to rehabilitate and release most of the kidnapped people in Hamas custody. Do not fall into this trap!”
Shortly afterward, another Israeli hardliner, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, also wrote on his X account, briefly following up on the same theme: “There will be no ceasefire, Madam Candidate.”
Their comments came as the leaders of three countries — Australia, Canada and New Zealand — called for a ceasefire.
In a joint statement released Friday, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon called for an “urgent ceasefire in Gaza.”
They wrote, “The situation in Gaza is dire. The human suffering is unacceptable. This must not continue.”
In their statement, the three leaders said they remained “firm” in condemning Hamas for the atrocities of the October 7 terror attacks and its ongoing terror acts.
The three leaders said they fully support the comprehensive ceasefire deal offered by US President Joe Biden and backed by the UN Security Council.
“We call on the parties to the conflict to agree to the agreement. Any delay will only result in more lives being lost.”
Months of negotiations brokered by the United States, Egypt and Qatar have failed to secure an agreement on a proposed ceasefire that would include the release of hostages from Gaza, as well as Israel releasing some Palestinian prisoners and a surge of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
Reuters reported that according to a Western official, a Palestinian source and two Egyptian sources, Israel wants to change the deal for a Gaza ceasefire and the release of hostages by Hamas. It also blocks a deal to end more than nine months of war that has devastated the enclave.
Israel says displaced Palestinians must be “screened” when they return to northern Gaza when the ceasefire begins.
The Israeli demand is a complete reversal of an agreement to allow civilians who fled to southern Gaza to return to their homes freely, the four sources told Reuters.
Talks had been scheduled to resume on Thursday with negotiators from Egypt, Israel, the US and Qatar in Doha, but an Israeli statement said its negotiators were “delayed,” without elaborating, and that talks would not resume until next week.
Also Friday, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the agency was sending more than 1 million doses of polio vaccine to Gaza to be administered in the coming weeks. He made the announcement in an opinion piece he wrote for The Guardian newspaper.
The vaccine shipment came after the organization’s top official in Gaza said traces of the polio-causing virus were found in sewage samples from the territory. No human cases have been reported, but the official expressed serious concern about a possible outbreak due to Gaza’s crippled health system and lack of clean water and sanitation. (es/pp)
