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The Memo: Gaza conflict roils presidential race
The conflict in Gaza is roiling the presidential campaign with roughly two months to go before Election Day.
Those contours have become particularly sharp since Hamas killed six hostages last week, including an Israeli American citizen, Hersh Goldberg-Polin.
President Biden and Vice President Harris have both promised that Hamas will pay for Goldberg-Polin’s death — and for its broader conduct, including the killing of around 1,200 people in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Former President Trump has blasted the Biden-Harris administration over the loss of the hostages.
On social media, Trump wrote that the hostages were “murdered by Hamas due to a complete lack of American Strength and Leadership.” This echoes a frequent attack from the former president, who blames many adverse events in the wider world on purported Democratic “weakness.”
On Thursday, Trump will deliver a virtual address to a Republican Jewish Coalition summit in Las Vegas.
Harris, for her part, has at times sounded a slightly more sympathetic rhetorical tone than Biden in relation to the suffering of the Palestinians. But she has not telegraphed any significant change in policy.
In her recent CNN interview, Harris was asked whether she might consider suspending arms shipments to Israel. She said that she would not do so — rebuffing a central demand of many pro-Palestinian voices on the left.
In her big speech to the Democratic National Convention last month, Harris said she would “always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself” and condemned the “horror” that Hamas inflicted on Oct. 7.........
© The Hill
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