Benjamin Netanyahu and Kamala Harris meet at the White House
(Photo: AP)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Thursday with U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, a day after his speech to both houses of Congress in Washington. Before the meeting, the two refrained from making a statement, and the vice president said only said that she "looks forward to the conversation, we have a lot to talk about." Netanyahu met earlier in the evening with President Joe Biden, who also refrained from giving an extensive statement at Netanyahu's side before their meeting, saying that there was "a lot to talk about."
Following their meeting, Harris said in a statement that she and Netanyahu had a "frank and constructive meeting" and reiterated her "unwavering commitment" to Israel's security. Harris added that "the difficult humanitarian situation in Gaza cannot be ignored." She called for a cease-fire and for the release of the hostages, and talked about the meeting with the families of the hostages with U.S. citizenship: "I told them that they are not alone - and I stand by their side. President Biden and I work every day to bring them home."
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Benjamin Netanyahu and Kamala Harris shake hands ahead of their White House meeting
(Photo: AP)
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Benjamin Netanyahu and Lamala Harris before the start of their meeting
(Photo: Nathan Howard/Reuters)
The meeting with Harris, which took place place shortly after Netanyahu's meeting with Biden, is seen as equally important, since Harris is expected to receive the Democratic Party's nomination in the 2024 elections, and may become the next president of the United States; So it's important to straighten things out in their relationship and create basic trust. Harris is seen as a more critical figure for Israel and Netanyahu in the Biden administration.
Throughout the war, Harris has like Biden expressed firm support for Israel, but she was been more critical of Israel and, according to reports, pressed for a more "tough" attitude toward Netanyahu and called on the administration to work with more determination to advance the two-state solution. On Wednesday night she did not attend the joint session of Congress which Netanyahu addressed for an hour citing scheduling constraints, but it is clear that Netanyahu also understood the message and avoided mentioning her even once in his speech.
Earlier on Thursday, Harris condemned the demonstrations against Netanyahu, saying: "I condemn anyone associated with the brutal terrorist organization Hamas, which has vowed to destroy the State of Israel and kill Jews. Graffiti and pro-Hamas rhetoric are abhorrent and we must not tolerate it in our nation. I condemn the burning of the American flag."
Netanyahu met Thursday evening for an hour and a half with President Joe Biden and his team, after which families of hostages with American citizenship joined another meeting, which lasted about an hour. That meeting was attended by Yael and Adi Alexander, parents of Edan Alexander; Ruby and Hagit Chen, parents of Itai Chen; Ronen and Orna Neutra, the parents of Omer Neutra; Yonatan Dekel-Chen, father of Sagui Dekel-Chen; Liz Naftali, the great aunt of former hostage Abigail Mor Idan; Aviva Siegel and Ilan, the wife and daughter of Keith Siegel, and the parents of Hersh Goldberg-Polin.
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Meeting with families of the hostages with U.S. citizenship
(Photo: Amos Ben Gershon, GPO)
Leaving the meeting, Ruby and Hagit Chen, the parents of Itai, whose body is being held in Gaza, said that Biden "gave us hope that something will happen in the coming days." Jon Polin, father of Hersh Goldberg-Polin added: "This is a special moment when President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, and Donald Trump - anyone who can be president - are aligned in saying that the deal needs to be done now."
Yonatan Dekel-Chen, Sagi's father, said that "Hamas should say yes now." Ronen Neutra, Omer's father, added: "We heard that the agreement needs to move forward and that they are working on it, so we are more optimistic. We are waiting for Hamas to accept the offer in the coming days and we can finally move forward with a framework in which our children and parents will start going outside, and peace will come to the entire region."
Netanyahu told the families that he is "not delaying a deal," and added: "Within two days, a new proposal will be offered to Hamas."
The Israeli negotiation team for the deal is waiting to receive from Netanyahu an update regarding the amendments that will be included in the outline . Biden is pressuring the prime minister to compromise, and the team is waiting to see if there will be any changes before an answer is forwarded to the mediators. The head of the CIA and the head of the Mossad are even expected to meet next week in Qatar or Paris, to continue discussing the details of the deal outline.
Benjamin Netanyahu met with Joe Biden at the White House
(Photo: Roy Avraham/GPO)
Earlier "Politico" reported that Israel is exerting pressure on the Biden administration and on the lawmakers in Congress top put more pressure on the Biden administration and lawmakers on Capitol Hill to greenlight weapons it says it needs to protect itself and to approve a "fast track" transfer of arms to Israel which, according to the report, is seeking to defend itself against Iran and its loyal organizations. The Israeli request to increase arms shipments, according to the report, indicates that it is trying to establish the shipments as a fact and fill its reserves before the elections in the U.S. in November, since it is not clear how Kamala Harris or Donald Trump will decide to behave when one of them enters the White House in January. Practically, According to Politico, Israel wants to take advantage of the Biden administration's support for its goals against Hamas and Hezbollah and get the weapons from it.