Harris camp shuts down talk of Israel arms embargo

Correction: An earlier version of this article incorrectly attributed a quote from Uncommitted movement leaders.

A top aide to Vice President Harris said Thursday that the Democratic presidential nominee does not support an arms embargo on Israel, after the Uncommitted National Movement suggested she was open to discussing a total ban on weapons deliveries from the U.S.

Leaders of the Uncommitted National Movement, born out of opposition toward President Biden’s policy toward Israel, said Harris showed an openness to a meeting to discuss an arms embargo on Israel following a brief exchange with the group’s founders during her Wednesday campaign rally in Detroit. 

However, Phil Gordon, Harris’s national security adviser, reiterated her opposition to an arms embargo in a Thursday post on the social platform X. 

“@VP has been clear: she will always ensure Israel is able to defend itself against Iran and Iran-backed terrorist groups. She does not support an arms embargo on Israel. She will continue to work to protect civilians in Gaza and to uphold international humanitarian law,” he wrote. 

Layla Elabed and Abbas Alawieh, founders of the Uncommitted National Movement, said in a statement responding to Gordon’s post that they remained eager to speak with Harris on the issue. 

“We found hope in Vice President Harris expressing an openness to meeting about an arms embargo, and we are eager to continue engaging because people we love are being killed with American bombs,” they said. 

“When we told Vice President Harris that members of our community in Michigan are losing dozens and hundreds of their family members to Israel’s assault in Gaza, she said back: ‘It’s horrific.’ It’s clear to us that Vice President Harris can lead our country’s Gaza policy to a more humane place. We hope she will meet with us so we can move forward to discuss an arms embargo.”

Elabed and Alawieh approached Harris and her running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D), during a photo line Wednesday at a campaign rally in Detroit, asking for a formal meeting to discuss an arms embargo on Israel.  

“Since October 7, the Vice President has prioritized engaging with Arab, Muslim, and Palestinian community members and others regarding the war in Gaza,” a spokesperson for Harris’s campaign said in an emailed statement. “In this brief engagement, she reaffirmed that her campaign will continue to engage with those communities.”

Harris is seen by critics of the war as being more sympathetic to the suffering of Palestinians compared to Biden, and more forthright about Israel’s responsibility for the death and destruction in the Gaza Strip amid the war with Hamas following its Oct. 7 attack.

But the vice president has also positioned herself as a stalwart supporter of Israel and its defense. 

And she pushed back on protesters at her rally when they chanted “Kamala, Kamala you can’t hide, we won’t vote for genocide.”

“You know what, if you want Donald Trump to win, then say that. Otherwise, I’m speaking,” Harris said.  

The Uncommitted National Movement has demonstrated in Democratic primaries the ability to hold back hundreds of thousands of votes. In Michigan, a key swing state, more than 100,000 Democratic voters cast “uncommitted” ballots in protest against Biden. 

While Harris opposes a complete arms embargo, it’s not clear whether she would support withholding some arms to Israel over its policies toward the Palestinians. Walz has previously garnered endorsements from pro-Israel groups that oppose conditioning military aid. 

Biden is holding back 2,000-pound bombs from Israel, which have been used in Gaza to flatten city blocks. But he resumed shipments of 500-pound bombs last month, and has shielded Israel from a larger arms embargo despite findings that U.S. weapons had likely been used in violation of international humanitarian law. 

Harris has criticized Israel for the conduct of the war in Gaza that has contributed to a humanitarian crisis, and she has put her support behind Biden’s push to secure a phased cease-fire deal that would require Hamas to release hostages it kidnapped from Israel and allow a scale up of humanitarian aid delivery into the strip. The architecture of the deal is aimed at laying the groundwork for negotiations for civilian, Palestinian rule in the strip. 

“The Vice President is focused on securing the ceasefire and hostage deal currently on the table,” the Harris campaign spokesperson told The Hill.

“As she has said, it is time for this war to end in a way where: Israel is secure, hostages are released, the suffering of Palestinian civilians ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, freedom, and self-determination.”