New York
AP
—
Former Vice President Kamala Harris, pressured to confront Israel’s war in Gaza on the first night of her book tour, expressed compassion for Palestinians and condemned President Donald Trump for giving the Israeli authorities “a blank check.”
“What’s happening to the Palestinian people is outrageous and it breaks my heart,” she advised a packed New York City efficiency middle on Wednesday night after being interrupted by the first of 4 pro-Palestinian protesters. “Donald Trump has given (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu a blank check to do whatever he wants.”
The feedback got here in the midst of a dialogue about her new book, “107 Days,” which was launched on Tuesday and particulars the hyperspeed marketing campaign she launched towards Trump after Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race.
Harris was initially scheduled to make one look on the 1,500-person capability Times Square efficiency middle, however her group added a second present earlier in the night as a result of of excessive curiosity.
Few points have divided the nation — and the Democratic Party — greater than the war in Israel.
More than 65,000 Palestinians have been killed for the reason that begin of the war, Gaza’s Health Ministry mentioned earlier in the month. The battle erupted after the October 7, 2023, assault by Hamas.
Democratic activists in explicit have condemned leaders in each events for not pushing again tougher to cease the bloodshed.
Harris on Wednesday referenced her support for New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, a Democrat who has additionally spoken out towards the war in Gaza. She mentioned the 2 spoke earlier in the day.
Harris mentioned she advised him she’s “excited” about his candidacy.
“You are bringing people in, and you are showing that there are voices that want to be heard, have felt left out and are now a part of what you are doing,” she mentioned, referencing the dialog. “And that is so powerful.”
Outside the venue on Wednesday night, dozens of activists protested on the sidewalk. Inside, the occasion veered off script a number of minutes after it started when a protester began shouting from the viewers.
“Your legacy is genocide. The blood of the Palestinians is on your hands,” the first one, a person sporting a medical masks, yelled earlier than being escorted out by safety. Later, one other girl mentioned, “This is your fault.”
As the group grew indignant with the disruptions, Harris known as on them to “take the temperature down.”
She famous that, as vice chairman, she first spoke out publicly about hunger in Gaza a year-and-a-half in the past. At the time, she mentioned, she took “a lot of heat” from the Biden administration for talking out on the delicate problem.
“I understand your concern and how you feel — I think I do,” she advised the third protester. “And the reality of it is where we are right now didn’t have to be this way — in terms of the blank check that this president has given.”
Several occasions over the course of the night, she criticized Trump. At one level, she mentioned the Republican president and his allies are like “a communist dictatorship” for quashing dissent.
Shortly earlier than the looks, Trump lashed out at Harris on social media for saying in a latest interview that the 2024 presidential election loss was the closest in the twenty first century. Harris repeated the declare on Wednesday in New York.
Trump known as the previous vice chairman “DUMB AS A ROCK.”
“A TOTAL LIE! I expect an apology. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump wrote.
The US doesn’t elect presidents by common vote. In truth, Trump misplaced the favored vote to Hillary Clinton in 2016 and nonetheless gained the presidency by the electoral faculty.
Trump gained the electoral faculty over Harris, 312-226. There have been two nearer elections since 2000. The closest was George W. Bush’s win over John Kerry in 2004.
Harris, who turns 61 subsequent month, hasn’t detailed her future plans and was not requested about them on the book occasion. She’s already handed on a possibility to run for governor of her dwelling state of California.
There have been decidedly combined opinions about what she ought to do subsequent — even among the many lots of who packed into the Times Square venue.
Valerie Lewis, 56, of New York City, mentioned she’s hopeful that the previous vice chairman can unify the badly divided nation. She mentioned she “would love” Harris to run for president once more.
Lewis’ husband, 65-year-old Eugene Dixon, wouldn’t.
“She can’t do it,” Dixon mentioned. “I don’t believe America is ready to have a woman president.”
Lewis rolled her eyes.
“It’s harder for a woman,” she mentioned. “I don’t think it’s possible.”