Jayapal: Harris has ‘deep empathy for the situation of Palestinian Americans’

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) on Monday argued Vice President Harris’s “deep empathy for the situation of Palestinian Americans” presents an opportunity to appeal to Muslim and Arab American voters who criticized President Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.

Jayapal, speaking with MSNBC, said anchor Joy Reid’s reporting that Harris on the 2024 presidential ticket could reopen the door with Palestinian Americans is “absolutely right.”

“I do think she [Harris] has a deep empathy for the situation of Palestinian Americans. It’s more natural to her,” Jayapal said, reflecting on a recent discussion she had with Harris about the ongoing war in Gaza.

“And so, I think these are things that she feels very comfortable talking about, and I think there’s a new opportunity to appeal to Muslim voters, to young voters, to Arab American voters, to Black voters, to labor voters,” she added.

“These are all folks who care about this issue and think that [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu has basically done everything to stop any kind of a cease-fire or peace agreement, and so I think that’s a huge opportunity. And I think she is going to be able to really shift the calculus on this.”

Biden, who stepped aside from the 2024 race on Sunday and endorsed Harris to replace him, has faced criticism from some within his party who argued the U.S. needs a tougher U.S. policy toward Israel given the high death toll and humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Tensions over Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war were reflected in some of this year’s early primaries, where some primary voters case a protest ballot for “uncommitted” instead of Biden.

Jayapal, who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said she thinks Harris has “real resonance with the Palestinian people in a very different way.”

“Obviously she doesn’t have Joe Biden’s long history with Netanyahu. She was not on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, for all those decades, things that shaped him on that issue. And I think that she has shown time and time again that she is able to call for cease-fire for example, to talk about the plight of women, Palestinian women who are being killed, the fact that 85 percent of children in Gaza have not had food for over a day in many cases.”

Advocates for a tougher U.S. policy toward Israel pointed to Harris’s speech in March, when she called on the Israeli government to “do more” to increase the flow of aid to Palestinians, noting there are “no excuses.”

“She really lifted up the humanitarian crisis in Gaza in a much more aggressive way, much more critical of the Israeli government’s approach there. I think that was noticed by everyone,” Matt Duss, executive vice president for the Center for International Policy and a former foreign policy adviser for Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), told The Hill this week.

Harris will not attend Netanyahu’s joint address to Congress and is reportedly expected to be traveling during the speech Wednesday. A number of Democrats and progressive lawmakers said they are planning to boycott the speech in protest of Israel’s continued military campaign in Gaza.