POLITICO Nightly: Kamala Harris’ Israel test

 
IT'S TIME TO STOP THE GAZA GENOCIDE!


US ALLIES ARE RECOGNIZING A PALESTINIAN STATE, SEEKING NOT 

ONLY A CEASEFIRE, BUT AN END TO ISRAELI OCCUPATION & END 

TO ILLEGAL WEST BANK SETTLEMENTS. 

CORRUPT NETANYAHU IS PROVOKING EXPANDING WAR TO IRAN 

& LEBANON - THE US CANNOT BE DRAWN INTO ANOTHER ENDLESS 

WAR! 

NETANYAHU HAS BLOCKED HUMANITARIAN AID & MEDICAL SUPPLIES

CAUSING GAZA STARVATION & FAMINE! CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY! 

ISRAEL CONTINUES TO BOMB CIVILIANS, AID WORKERS, HOSPITALS, 

TORTURES & EXECUTES DOCTORS & CIVILIANS, 

DEFENDING WAR CRIMINALS IS NOT MORALLY ACCEPTABLE!

By Calder McHugh Vice President Kamala Harris and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu shake hands before the start of a meeting in the Vice President's ceremonial office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on July 25. | Pool photo by Kenny Holston GENERATION GAP — The leaders of Israel’s government are unhappy with Vice President Kamala Harris. After Harris skipped Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to Congress last week, met with him afterwards, and then commented publicly on the humanitarian toll of the war, they expressed that displeasure. A top Israeli official, briefing reporters anonymously , said that their government has been uncomfortable with her tone and argued that she’s made a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas more difficult. The tonal shift on the issue of Israel from President Joe Biden to a potential Harris presidency is no accident. Since the war on Gaza began, she’s pushed the Biden administration to be more overtly sympathetic to show public concern for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. And Israeli officials publicly hammering Harris — even if they choose to do so anonymously — shows that there’s already concern on their side that she won’t be as willing a partner as Biden. Seizing on that criticism, Republicans have focused many of their early attacks on Harris’ campaign on what they argue is her soft support for a major U.S. ally; a cover of The New York Post last week read “ISRAEL LEFT BEHIND,” referring to Harris’ absence from Netanyahu’s speech to Congress. Harris’ position on the issue may be a departure from Biden, but it’s far from a left-wing lark. She is voicing what is now essentially the mainstream Democratic position on the issue — increasing public frustration with Netanyahu and a right-wing Israeli government, sympathy for humanitarian conditions in Gaza, pushing for a ceasefire while remaining staunchly committed to providing military aid to Israel. On the occasion of Netanyahu’s speech to Congress last week — in which he attacked the U.S. for not providing enough aid or weapons on a timely enough basis — House Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi called it “by far the worst presentation of any foreign dignitary invited and honored with the privilege of addressing the Congress of the United States.” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer refused to shake Netanyahu’s hand in the chamber, pointing later to “serious disagreements” with the prime minister. Earlier this year, Schumer said that Israel had “lost its way” and called for new elections. And Harris was far from the only Democrat not to stick around to hear Netanyahu; around half of congressional Democrats skipped the speech altogether. It is Biden who has been the party outlier in his nearly unwavering support. The president has a longstanding relationship with Israel and its leaders, and regularly cites his 1973 meeting with Golda Meir — a moment from a half-century ago — as one of the most profoundly affecting moments of his life. He hasn’t always been reflexively supportive of Israel — he has clashed with Israeli leaders over settlements in the West Bank. But throughout his political career, Biden has stood out as someone who is distinctly more sympathetic toward Israel than the median Democrat. During the Obama administration, Biden was dispatched regularly to deal with Netanyahu after Obama’s own relationship with the prime minister quickly deteriorated. So, a change in tenor between a potential Harris administration and Biden’s current stance says more about Biden’s unique relationship with Israel than about Harris. In any case, at the moment the differences aren’t dramatic. The party and Harris remain committed to supporting Israel — and have so far advanced a party platform that bucks left-wing critics . Palestinian rights advocates, many of whom believe Harris is a step in the right direction, are still hoping for more from Harris — something that U.S. officials and analysts are not convinced they’ll get . Nevertheless, the current discord between the right-wing Israeli government and Harris might be a sign of what’s to come. The 81-year-old Biden’s veneration of the state — which comes from his memories of conflicts in 1967 and 1973 and his long-held personal relationships with heads of state there — is largely outmoded in modern Democratic politics. In her willingness to antagonize Israel’s government, Harris is simply a reversion to the mean. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com . Or contact tonight’s author at cmchugh@politico.com or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @calder_mchugh . What'd I Miss? — FBI: Trump has agreed to interview about assassination attempt: Former president Donald Trump has agreed to be interviewed by the FBI about the assassination attempt against him earlier this month, an FBI official told reporters today. Trump’s reported agreement to sit down with investigators comes after he sharply criticized the FBI’s handling of the probe, even calling for FBI Director Christopher Wray — a Trump appointee — to resign. — Biden decries ‘extremism’ on Supreme Court, details plan for term limits, ethics code for justices: President Joe Biden said today that “extremism” on the U.S. Supreme Court is undermining public confidence in the institution and called on Congress to quickly establish term limits and an enforceable ethics code for the court’s nine justices. He also called on lawmakers to ratify a constitutional amendment limiting presidential immunity. Biden, who has less than six months left in his presidency, detailed the contours of his court proposal in an address at the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, Texas, where he was marking the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act. His calls for dramatic changes in the court have little chance of being approved by a closely divided Congress with 99 days to go before Election Day. ***RETALIATION IS NOT A SOLUTION**** — U.S. shrugs off ‘all-out war’ worries in Middle East: The Biden administration said worries about a wider conflict between Israel and Hezbollah militants breaking out are “exaggerated,” even as some Israeli officials signal that fierce retaliation could come soon. Israel and the U.S. have blamed the Lebanon-based militant group for an attack over the weekend that killed a dozen children in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Hezbollah has strongly denied any involvement. On Sunday night, Israel’s security cabinet gave Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant authorization for a military attack in response. Nightly Road to 2024 RESTORING ROE — Kamala Harris jumped into the presidential race with a broad pledge to “restore reproductive freedom.” The Harris campaign specified today that she’s calling for restoring Roe v. Wade . While many abortion-rights groups are championing her bid for the White House, some activists are frustrated with her position on the issue and plan to keep pushing to go further than President Joe Biden. While progressives hoped she would tack significantly to Biden’s left on an issue they see as pivotal to winning in November, the promise to restore Roe is the latest example of the more moderate path she is taking as the likely presidential nominee compared with her platform when she first ran for the office in 2019. Even as abortion-rights groups embrace her campaign and insist they aren’t surprised by her stance, they argue that restoring Roe has always been the floor and the onus is on activists to push for policies that allow abortions later in pregnancy — and a Congress willing to pass them. ***WATCH OUT FOR FAKE VIDEOS!***** THE POWER TO MISLEAD — A video that uses an artificial intelligence voice-cloning tool to mimic the voice of Vice President Kamala Harris saying things she did not say is raising concerns about the power of AI to mislead with Election Day about three months away , reports The Associated Press. The video gained attention after tech billionaire Elon Musk shared it on his social media platform X on Friday without explicitly noting it was originally released as parody. By late Sunday, Musk had clarified the video was intended as satire, pinning the original creator’s post to his profile and using a pun to make the point that parody is not a crime. The video uses many of the same visuals as a real ad that Harris, the likely Democratic presidential nominee, released launching her campaign. But the fake ad swaps out Harris’ voice-over audio with an AI-generated voice that convincingly impersonates Harris. AROUND THE WORLD A protester throws a gas canister back at police after President Nicolas Maduro was declared the election winner in Caracas, Venezuela today. | Cristian Hernandez/AP FORMAL VICTORY — Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was formally declared the winner of his country’s disputed presidential election today , a day after the political opposition and the entrenched incumbent both claimed victory in the contest. The National Electoral Council, which is loyal to Maduro’s ruling party, announced his victory, handing him a third six-year term as the leader of an economy recovering from collapse and a population desperate for change. The ministers of defense, communications and technology and the head of the National Assembly applauded. There was no immediate comment from the opposition, which had vowed to defend its votes. Opposition leaders planned to hold a news conference later in the day. Within hours, a few thousand Venezuelans began taking to the streets near Caracas’ largest poor neighborhood to protest Maduro’s claim. MELONI GOES TO CHINA — Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni vowed to “relaunch” relations with China during her first visit to Beijing since taking office, announcing that she has signed a three-year plan to deepen cooperation. After meeting Chinese premier Li Qiang on Sunday, Meloni said the trip demonstrated “the will to start a new phase.” According to a statement released by Li’s office, the two countries aim to increase “mutually beneficial cooperation between small and medium-sized enterprises in the fields of shipbuilding, aerospace, new energy, artificial intelligence.” *****LEBANON**** GROUNDED — Airlines suspended routes and canceled flights to Beirut today amid fears of a full-blown war between Israel and Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Germany’s national airline Lufthansa said it had suspended five routes to and from the Lebanese capital until August 5 out of “an abundance of caution,” with its subsidiaries Swiss International Air Lines and Eurowings following suit. Turkish Airlines, Greek carrier Aegean Airlines, Ethiopian Air and Lebanese carrier Middle East Airlines also reportedly canceled flights due to land in Beirut on Sunday and today. *****TURKEY**** ESCALATING RHETORIC — Turkey’s leader is threatening to send the NATO heavyweight’s troops into Israel to intervene on behalf of Palestinians in an escalation of rhetoric that raises fears of wider regional conflict. President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan told a meeting of his ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in the northeastern city of Rize on the Black Sea that Turkey “must be very strong so that Israel can’t do these ridiculous things to Palestine.” “Just like we entered Karabakh, just like we entered Libya, we will do [something] similar exactly to them,” Erdoğan said. Nightly Number $24 million The amount House Majority PAC, the House Democrats’ largest super PAC, is adding to its initial $186 million TV and digital fall ad campaign , as it tries to capitalize on a surge of enthusiasm surrounding Vice President Kamala Harris’ rise. RADAR SWEEP THE NEW CONVERSION THERAPY — The idea of “conversion therapy” — that people who are gay or queer can be made straight again — has been discredited for decades. But now, a new, younger strain of digital-native influencers are bringing the concept back . So-called “ex-gay” influencers on TikTok are attracting followers and going viral for posts that describe how they used to be gay and what turned them straight again. They directly appeal to their viewers to take God into their lives by discussing their own personal journeys. Many of their viral moments, though, might be more complicated than people signaling support for their message — social media can lead to all kinds of “hate watching,” or people purposefully watching content that they disagree with. For The Daily Beast, Finbarr Toesland breaks down the phenomenon. Parting Image On this date in 1990: A Mongolian herdsman and his family arrive on horseback at the town center of Cachuurt to vote in the country’s first multi-party elections. | Mark Avery/AP Did someone forward this email to you?  Sign up here .   Follow us on Twitter Charlie Mahtesian @PoliticoCharlie Calder McHugh @calder_mchugh   Follow us

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