Trump says Kamala Harris 'hates' Israel as she calls for end to Gaza war
In their first and perhaps only debate, neither Harris nor Trump offered a substantive plan to secure a cease-fire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas.
WASHINGTON — Former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris dodged questions in Tuesday night's debate about what they would do differently to bring an end to the nearly year-long Gaza war.
Asked how he would negotiate to stop the fighting and release the hostages, the Republican candidate cited his oft-repeated claim that Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault on Israel would have never happened on his watch.
“She hates Israel,” Trump continued. “If she's president, I believe that Israel will not exist within two years from now.”
The line of attack is not new for Trump, who told a meeting of the Republican Jewish Coalition in a speech last week that "Israel is gone” if Harris wins the presidency. He's also previously said Jews who vote for Democrats "hate Israel" and referred to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer — the highest-ranking Jewish official in the United States — as "a proud member of Hamas.”
“At the same time in her own way, she hates the Arab population," Trump said in the debate. "The whole place is going to get blown up: Arabs, Jewish people, Israel. Israel will be gone."
Harris responded by saying Trump was trying to “divide and distract” from reality.
“I have, my entire career and life, supported Israel and the Israeli people,” she said.
"What we know is that this war must end," Harris said when pressed for her plan. "It must end immediately, and the way it will end is we need a cease-fire deal and we need the hostages. And so we will continue to work around the clock on that."
Harris called for a two-state solution while emphasizing her support for Israel’s security.
The two candidates squared off more than three months after President Joe Biden made public an Israeli proposal for a cease-fire and hostage release. The fragile negotiations, led by the United States and mediators Egypt and Qatar, have been stymied by additional demands introduced by Hamas and Israel.
Biden said this month that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not doing enough to secure a hostage deal, but has resisted calls to withhold military aid from Israel as leverage. Harris was the first senior Biden administration official to publicly call for an immediate cease-fire in March, but does not support an arms embargo on Israel.
The Health Ministry in Gaza says the death toll from Israel’s military campaign has surpassed 41,000 people, the majority of them women and children. Hamas' Oct. 7 attack left some 1,200 people dead in southern Israel, with the militants taking another 250 hostages.
Palestinian officials said Tuesday that an Israeli airstrike on a crowded tent camp in the designated humanitarian zone of Al-Mawasi killed at least 19 people and injured dozens of others. The Israeli military disputed the casualty count from the strike it said was targeting “senior Hamas terrorists.”
