Harris office does damage control over student’s Israel comment

Vice President Kamala Harris’ office is working behind the scenes to mend relationships with pro-Israel Democrats after not pushing back on a student who, in asking her a question, accused Israel of “ethnic genocide.”

On Thursday, Harris' senior staff contacted the influential Democratic Majority for Israel to clean up remarks she made Wednesday at George Mason University where Harris was visiting a classroom of students. "We were pleased Vice President Harris’s senior staff reached out to us today to confirm what we already knew: Her ‘commitment to Israel’s security is unwavering,’” said Mark Mellman, the president of the group.

A senior adviser to Harris also reached out to Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Fl.) the co-chair of the Bipartisan Anti‐Semitism Taskforce, a source familiar with the outreach told POLITICO.

Deutch and his office did not respond to a request for comment. But the source said it was “fair to say that the group of House Democrats that super care about this noticed it and talked about it.”

The incident involving Harris took place on Wednesday, when a student attending an event with the VP to promote voting, said that Israel was conducting an “ethnic genocide” in Palestine and felt that the U.S. was ignoring protests even though Harris had been discussing the power of democratrating. Harris responded: “Your voice, your perspective, your experience, your truth cannot be suppressed, and it must be heard.”