Kamala Harris faces unwarranted criticism from right-wing pro-Netanyahu camp in Israel - opinion

A toxic, racist, and misogynistic narrative has begun to flourish in the right-wing pro-Netanyahu camp in Israel since Kamala Harris was nominated Democratic Party candidate for the presidency of the United States. This narrative manifests itself in disdain for Harris, for her skills, and for her judgment, and in deliberate distortion of her impressive pro-Israeli record. This criticism is inspired by Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, who has been generous with derogatory labels directed at Harris.

Netanyahu’s mouthpieces, Channel 14 TV pundits Erel Segal and Shimon Riklin, added their own contribution to the hate fest when, in the promo for their show, they asked the nauseating question, “Is Harris a proxy for Hamas?” 

But as usual, when it comes to insulting comments towards the leaders of friendly countries, they were led by the minister for combating antisemitism Amichai Chikli, who in a disparaging post on platform X chose to edit Harris’s speech after her meeting with Netanyahu. He omitted the beginning, about her commitment to the security of the State of Israel, and left only the section in which she talks about the harsh reality in Gaza. He concluded that he believed that “the Democratic presidential candidate has not heard about the events of October 7.”

Chikli is so busy flirting with right-wing populist leaders that he does not understand that the problem lies first of all with him and his ilk, who are proud of their disconnect from the Gaza humanitarian disaster, without realizing that their posture also disconnects them from the entire free world. 

Free the hostages, protect Israel

Harris and the other leaders of the Biden administration were and remain tirelessly engaged in efforts to free the hostages and to protect Israel, in contrast to the Netanyahu government, which is concerned with the survival of the coalition over the survival of the country’s citizens.

The disparaging criticism of Harris is reminiscent of the Israeli Right’s treatment of former US president Barack Obama. Of course, it has since become clear that Obama was responsible for Israel’s largest-ever security assistance, and that the international coalition that he established to stop Iran’s military nuclear capabilities contributed significantly to Israel’s security, until Trump turned Iran into a nuclear threshold state by abandoning the agreement.

While the mouthpieces label Harris as “progressive” (a great majority of the Progressive Caucus on Capitol Hill are Zionists), in reality, she was one of the senators closest to the Jewish community in California and to pro-Israel organizations in Washington. She traveled to Israel in her first year as senator, in 2017, and the first resolution that she promoted as senator was a condemnation of UN Security Council Resolution 2334 which stated that the settlements are illegal. Kamala Harris was never a favorite of the progressive wing of the Democratic Party, certainly not in relation to her support for Israeli policies. But why confuse the racists and misogynists with facts?

The more reasoned critics, those who seek to mask their criticism with facts, will direct their listeners to Harris’s speech of March of this year in which she called for an immediate ceasefire. In their eyes, this is her terrible sin. The fact that she realized already then, half a year after the fighting began, that the time had come for a ceasefire and for a deal to release the abductees indicates her political wisdom – wisdom that is sorely lacking on the Israeli side.

Ceasefire wanted by all

Today, all American and Israeli government and security officials, as well as Republican candidate Trump, are pushing for a ceasefire in the face of Netanyahu, Itamar Ben-Gvir, and Bezalel Smotrich’s wall of refusal. 

Even Trump, a favorite of the Israeli Right, said that “Israel needs to end the war – and quickly.” But this does not prevent the right-wingers from continuing to heap praise on him because their criticism of her was never substantive, only personal. 

They are not really concerned by what Harris said, but rather they are troubled by the image of a democratic and energetic woman, who could be an excellent president, especially in contrast with the elderly racist candidate of the Republican Party, who is not interested in leading the free world.

Why is the Right, both in the US and Israel, afraid of a daughter of immigrants from India and Jamaica, who fought antisemitism both as attorney-general and as a senator, and who took it upon herself as vice president, together with her Jewish spouse, Doug Amhoff, to lead the Biden administration’s plan to combat antisemitism; a politician with a long record of support for Israel? 

Perhaps they have a hard time with Harris’s criticism of the conduct of the Netanyahu government. But this criticism is no different from the criticism of the majority of Israeli citizens and the majority of the US Jewish community, and stems from support of Israel and a sense of responsibility towards it.

Harris’s candidacy has injected new blood into the presidential race, which has again become an open race. This frightens the Trumpists and their Israeli allies, who are targeting her, that she not prevent Trump’s return to the White House. 

The writer is J Street Israel’s executive director. He has served as an Israeli diplomat in Washington and Boston and as a political adviser to the president of Israel.