Biden should have done more to stop Israel's 'horrific conduct' in Gaza: Kamala Harris
The former vice-president says both Biden and Trump failed to use US leverage to curb Israel’s actions.
Former US Vice-President Kamala Harris has said the Biden administration should have acted sooner and more forcefully to stop the Israeli government's "horrific conduct" during the war in Gaza.
Speaking at the Asan Memorial Lecture in Seoul, South Korea, on Wednesday (14 October), Harris said the United States had "fallen short" of its "moral obligation to human rights and international law", Israeli news outlet Haaretz reported.
"Most recently, the failure to use our leverage to curtail the Israeli government's horrific conduct in the war in Gaza, both under the current administration, which offers Netanyahu a blank check, and our administration before, where we should have acted sooner and more forcefully," she said, referring to the administrations of President Donald Trump and former President Joe Biden.
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The Republican Jewish Coalition criticised Harris's remarks, describing them as "unsurprising" in a post on the social media platform X.
Her comments mark a departure from the Biden administration's consistent support for Israel during the conflict, which became a defining issue in the 2024 presidential election. Harris, who succeeded Biden as the Democratic presidential candidate, lost the election to Trump.
A poll conducted by the Institute for Middle East Understanding and YouGov found that 29% of Americans who voted for Biden in 2020 did not vote for Harris in 2024 because of the former president's support for Israel's war in Gaza.
Israel launched its military campaign in Gaza following the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, which killed 1,200 people. The ensuing war killed more than 74,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which is controlled by Hamas.
Biden said in April 2024 that US support for Israel was "ironclad". He later expressed frustration with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his military tactics and civilian casualties in Gaza.
However, Biden's criticism of Netanyahu did not undermine his administration's support for the Israeli government. The former president accused Netanyahu of "hurting Israel more than helping" through his handling of the war.
Biden and Harris also faced mass demonstrations by pro-Palestinian protesters demanding that Washington stop supplying arms to Israel. Protesters accused the administration of enabling genocide in Gaza.
Human rights groups and United Nations-commissioned experts have accused Israel of committing genocide in the Palestinian territory, an allegation Netanyahu has denied.
"Here's the simple truth. Israel didn't commit genocide. Israel prevented genocide," Netanyahu told the United Nations General Assembly last month, describing the accusation as the "greatest lie of the century".
Trump announced the first phase of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in October 2025. In January, his administration followed this with the creation of the Gaza Board of Peace to oversee the territory's reconstruction.
