Vice President Kamala Harris visited George Mason University in Virginia last Wednesday. She is now facing criticism for failing to correct a student who told Harris that Israel was committing “ethnic genocide” in her complaint about U.S. foreign and domestic policies.
According to the New York Post, Harris basically agreed when she replied to the student, “This is about the fact that your voice, your perspective, your experience, your truth, should not be suppressed. And it must be heard, right?”
It didn’t take Republican lawmakers long to call Harris out on social media for her lack of understanding the issue. Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley tweeted about her comment, “Kamala Harris doesn’t have time to go to the border, but she apparently has plenty of time to encourage anti-Israel, anti-Semitic falsehoods.”
Hawley’s sentiment was added to by State Rep. Dan Meuser (R-PA) saying, “Kamala Harris owes all who support Israel an apology and explanation. Her foolish woke view is wrong, per usual. Go to Israel and learn something, Madame VP.”
The former U.S. Ambassador of Israel, David Friedman, also denounced Harris’ statement tweeting, “Shameful. There is truth and there are lies. No one in entitled to their personal truth. This attack on Israel is simply a lie and VPOTUS should have called that out.”
The Harris debacle inspired CNN to devote an entire segment Friday on the issue concerning her office’s attempt at damage control. “Frantic damage control by Vice President Kamala Harris’ office that points to possibly deeper and more troubling problems for the Democratic Party and that Harris’ comments might only be part of the problem,” CNN anchor Jake Tapper said.
The Anti-Defamation league also voiced their concerns because of Harris’ failure to correct the student, who falsely accused Israel of genocide, stating “Allowing smears of this kind to stand is dangerous and can incite violence against Jewish people all over the world.”
Politico reported that the Vice President’s office has been working behind the scenes with pro-Israel Democrats following the backlash against her. On Thursday, Harris’s office reached out to the Democratic Majority for Israel as well as Democratic Floriday Rep. Ted Deutch, the co-chair of the Bipartisan anti-Semitism Taskforce in an attempt to mend relationships affected by the Vice President’s statements.
