Posted on 07/25/24
| News Source: Arutz-7
US Vice President Kamala Harris delivered remarks to the press on Thursday, after her meeting at the White House with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, which lasted about 40 minutes.
Describing her meeting with Netanyahu as “frank and constructive”, Harris added, “I told him that I will always ensure that Israel is able to defend itself, including from Iran and Iran-backed militias, such as Hamas and Hezbollah.”
“From when I was a young girl, collecting funds to plant trees for Israel, to my time in the United States Senate and now at the White House, I have had an unwavering commitment to the existence of the state of Israel, to its security and to the people of Israel,” continued the Vice President.
“I’ve said it many times but it bears repeating: Israel has a right to defend itself, and how it does so matters. Hamas is a brutal terrorist organization. On October 7, Hamas triggered this war when it massacred 1,200 innocent people, including 44 Americans. Hamas has committed horrific acts of sexual violence and took 250 hostages. There are American citizens who remain captive in Gaza, and the remains of American citizens are still being held in Gaza,” Harris said.
She noted that she has met with the families of the American hostages multiple times, “and I have told them that they are not alone and I stand with them, and President Biden and I are working every day to bring them home.”
At the same time, Harris said she expressed during her meeting with Netanyahu “my serious concern about the scale of human suffering in Gaza, including the death of far too many innocent civilians, and I made clear my serious concern about the dire humanitarian situation there, with over two million people facing high levels of food insecurity, and half a million people facing catastrophic levels of food insecurity.”
Harris described the images from Gaza in the last nine months “devastating” and added, “We cannot look away in the face of these tragedies, we cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering, and I will not be silent.”
She stated,“Thanks to the leadership of our President, Joe Biden, there’s a deal on the table for a ceasefire and a hostage deal” and described the three stages of Biden’s three-phase deal, as he outlined in late May.
“It is time for this war to end, and end in a way where Israel is secure, all the hostages are released, the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can exercise their right to freedom, dignity and self-determination. There has been hopeful movement in the talks to secure an agreement on this deal and, as I just told Prime Minister Netanyahu, it is time to get this deal done…Let’s get the deal done so we can get a ceasefire to end the war, let’s bring the hostages home and let’s provide much needed relief to the Palestinian people.”