(Headline USA) Vice President Kamala Harris declined to preside over Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s joint address to Congress this week in what Israeli officials have called an insulting snub.
Harris is set to become the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee after President Joe Biden ended his reelection bid on Sunday.
As vice president, she is supposed to preside over the Senate. But she does not plan to attend or fulfill her vice presidential duty during Wednesday’s address by Netanyahu. Instead, she will be attending the Zeta Phi Beta Sorority Grand Boule in Indianapolis, Ind., according to a White House official.
With Harris absent, Senate President pro tempore Patty Murray, D-Wash., normally takes up the role. But she also reportedly refused to preside over the address, saying she would be boycotting it over Israel’s continued military campaign in Gaza.
Though Harris’s team did not explain why the vice president will not be attending Netanyahu’s address, Israeli officials took it to be a deliberate boycott as well.
“The free world cannot afford leaders who are unable to distinguish between good and evil,” an anonymous Israeli official said, according to the New York Post, in response to Harris’s decision, calling it “disappointing.”
Harris reportedly scheduled a one-on-one meeting with Netanyahu this week in lieu of attending his address, according to Politico.
During the meeting, she plans to reiterate her commitment to Israel’s security and “convey her view that it is time for the war to end in a way where Israel is secure, all hostages are released, the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can enjoy their right to dignity, freedom, and self-determination,” a Harris aide said.
Biden also canceled his own meeting with Netanyahu, though the White House claimed he did so for health reasons since he allegedly has been recovering from COVID-19 in Delaware.
Former President Donald Trump issued an announcement saying that he planned to meet with Netanyahu on Friday morning at Mar-a-Lago, despite the Israeli leader’s tepid support for Trump following the 2020 election.
“During my first term, we had Peace and Stability in the Region, even signing the historic Abraham Accords – And we will have it again,” Trump said in the announcement.
“Just as I have said in discussions with President Zelensky and other World Leaders in recent weeks, my PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH Agenda will demonstrate to the World that these horrible, deadly Wars, and violent Conflicts must end,” he added. “Millions are dying, and Kamala Harris is in no way capable of stopping it.”
