Kamala Harris says Joe Biden was incapable of showing more empathy for civilians in Gaza killed by Israel in response to Hamas' Oct. 7 attacks, according to a copy of Harris' new book obtained by Axios.
- "I had pleaded with Joe, when he spoke publicly on this issue, to extend the same empathy he showed to the suffering of Ukrainians to the suffering of innocent Gazan civilians," the former vice president writes in her book "107 Days," out Tuesday.
- "But he couldn't do it: While he could passionately state, 'I am a Zionist,' his remarks about innocent Palestinians came off as inadequate and forced."
Why it matters: It's part of Harris' larger effort in the book to distance herself from Biden after not doing so during last year's campaign.
Driving the news: Harris spends significant portions of her book addressing Israel and Gaza, along with the anger in Democratic Party's left wing about Biden's deference to Israeli leadership.
- Harris writes that Biden's unpopularity hurt her in 2024, and that one of the reasons was because of Biden's "perceived blank check to [Israeli leader] Benjamin Netanyahu in Gaza."
- She argues that the conservative Netanyahu didn't care about Biden's loyalty to Israel. "He wanted [Donald] Trump in the seat opposite him. Not Joe, not me."
- A Harris spokesperson declined to comment. A Biden spokesperson did not respond to a request for one.
Flashback: During Biden's the presidency, Biden and Harris spokespeople denied the two had disagreements over Gaza.
- In response to a Politico story in December 2023 headlined "Kamala Harris pushes White House to be more sympathetic toward Palestinians," Harris spokesperson Kirsten Allen said then: "There is no daylight between the president and the vice president, nor has there been."
- She added: "I would caution the media about citing anonymous sources in the 'orbit' about sensitive national security conversations between the president and vice president that take place in the Oval Office."
The other side: Biden fumed privately and publicly at Netanyahu's approach to the war.
- "You can't have another 30,000 Palestinians dead as a consequence of going after (Hamas). There are other ways to deal with Hamas," Biden said in March 2024, calling such a death toll a "red line."
- In April 2024, he added that Israel "has also not done enough to protect civilians."
The intrigue: Harris also writes that Gaza protests factored into her decision when she picked a running mate last year.
- When Harris met with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who is Jewish, she writes that: "We talked about how to handle the attacks he'd confronted on Gaza and what effect it might have on the enthusiasm we were trying to build. Big protests at the convention were a major concern."
- She and Shapiro also discussed an opinion piece he had written as a 20-year old in which he said that people in Palestine "are too battle-minded to be able to establish a peaceful homeland of their own." He has since embraced a two-state solution and noted he was young when he wrote the piece.
- Harris eventually chose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate.
Zoom out: In the book, Harris says she supports security for Israel, while also criticizing Netanyahu.
- "I believe Israel was right to respond to the atrocities of October 7," she writes.
- "But the ferocity of Netanyahu's response, the number of innocent Palestinian women and children killed, and his failure to prioritize the lives of the hostages had weakened Israel's moral position internationally and created angry dissent within Israel itself."
- She writes that there was "some bitterness that we had not given a speaking slot to a Palestinian spokesperson" at the [Democratic] convention but says she knew "the section of my [convention] speech dealing with the Gaza war had a lot riding on it."
She acknowledges becoming frustrated with left-wing protesters who interrupted her rallies about Gaza.
- "The threat to withhold their vote got to me. It felt reckless," she writes. "The issue was not binary, but the outcome of this election certainly was."
- She adds: "Why weren't they protesting at Trump rallies? I wondered."
