Vice President Kamala Harris faced backlash online over the weekend over remarks that she made about Israel as it prepares to finish off the Hamas terrorist organization inside Rafah.
Harris made the remarks during a Sunday interview with Rachel Scott on ABC News’ “This Week” while talking about Israel preparing for its upcoming ground offensive inside Rafah — the last stronghold that Hamas controls inside Gaza.
“[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu appears to just be flat out ignoring President Biden’s warning about an offensive in Rafah,” Scott said. “Is that a red line for your administration?”
“We have been clear in multiple conversations and in every way that any major military operation in Rafah would be a huge mistake,” Harris said. “Let me tell you something, I have been studying the maps. There’s nowhere for those folks to go. And we’re looking at about 1.5 million people in Rafah who were there because they were told to go there, most of them. And so we’ve been very clear that it would be a mistake to move into Rafah with any type of military operation.”
When pressed about whether there would be consequences if Israel moves forward with eliminating Hamas inside Rafah, Harris responded: “Well, we’re going to take it one step at a time, but we’ve been very clear in terms of our perspective on whether or not that should happen.”
Scott again pushed Harris to answer the question.
“I am ruling out nothing,” Harris responded.
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VP Harris says she isn't ruling out possible consequences if Israel invades Rafah against U.S. requests not to do so pic.twitter.com/TKk7mmAUFx
— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) March 24, 2024
Harris faced widespread backlash online over her remarks from political pundits and former U.S. officials.
“ABC needs to let so some who knows about the Middle East interview the Vice President,” said former Acting Director of National Intelligence Richard Grenell. “So many missed opportunities.”
Former U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman responded: “She ‘studied the maps’ and concluded that the people in Rafah have no place to go. It must have been an awfully small map — obviously left out Egypt and other Arab countries.”
“People always say ‘there’s only so much damage she can do as VP’ but she seems eager to prove them wrong,” noted Republican strategist Matt Whitlock.
Radio host Mark Levin posted on X: “How dare you threaten the Israelis like this! You’re a disgraceful buffoon! Absolutely contemptible.”