by Farrukh Abadi
Last Thursday, Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris and her running mate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz sat down for an interview with monopoly outlet CNN.
During the interview, Harris claimed that she would not change her policy on Israel—as well as a number of other issues—compared to Biden. When asked explicitly if she would do anything differently, including considering an arms embargo on Israel, Harris stated: “No… we have to get a deal done.”
For many months, certain sections of the Palestine Solidarity Movement have been attempting to sell the notion that Harris would support the Palestinians and enforce an arms embargo on Israel, despite the fact that the Biden-Harris administration has sent more arms to Israel than any previous administration. In early August, the co-founders of the Uncommitted Movement—champions of working within the Democratic Party for a ceasefire—wrote in a statement: “It’s clear to us that Vice President Harris can lead our country’s Gaza policy to a more humane place.”
Although a Harris campaign spokesperson clarified that Harris’s position on Israel is the same as Biden’s, and her national security advisor explicitly stated that she “does not support an arms embargo on Israel,” the Uncommitted Movement leaders continued to pedal the notion that Harris was really a closeted ally of the Palestinian people.
However, during the Democratic National Convention in mid-August, the Uncommitted Delegates were unable to even pressure the Democrats to allow a Palestinian-American member of their own Party to speak on the main stage in favor of Harris. A co-chair of the Uncommitted Movement said the debacle was “an embarrassment for those of us who had faith in the Democratic party that we still had voices here.”
This latest interview again confirms that Harris maintains the same policies as Biden—which was already apparent in the fact that her policy platform was initially written for Biden when he was still running—including her staunch support for the genocidal Zionist entity and her opposition to an arms embargo.
She also reiterated her support for other reactionary policies, such as her support for fracking and a border policy that pushes Donald Trump’s border policy further to the right.
Both Harris and Walz were questioned about the integrity of their responses. After highlighting how Harris has changed her position completely on certain issues since her last campaign for office, and how Walz has explicitly lied about his history, the interviewer asked the latter: “What do you say to voters who aren’t sure whether they can take you at your word?” Harris repeatedly evaded the question by stating that her “values have not changed”, and Walz chalked up his lies to “speaking passionately.”
In other words: while the candidates’ positions and policies continue shifting further to the right in line with the trend of reactionization, their values of defending imperialism remain unchanged.
