Israel, Gaza, Russia, Ukraine Prompt Vociferous Trump-Harris Exchange

By Donald H. Harrison

SAN DIEGO – Presidential opponents Donald Trump and Kamala Harris clashed on numerous topics during their 90-minute televised debate Tuesday evening, Sept. 10, in Philadelphia, but perhaps most vociferously about the Israel-Hamas War and the Russia-Ukraine War.

It started when ABC reporter Linsey Davis posed a question to Vice President Harris about how she would go about breaking the “stalemate” in Gaza.

Harris responded, “Let’s understand how we got here. On Oct. 7, Hamas, a terrorist organization slaughtered 1,200 Israelis, many of them young people who were simply attending a concert.  Women were horribly raped. So absolutely, I said then (last December) and I say now, ‘Israel has a right to defend itself.’  We would!  And how it does so matters because it is also true far too man innocent Palestinians have been killed—children, mothers.

“What we know is that this war must end,” the Democratic presidential nominee continued. “It must end immediately and the way it will end is that we need a ceasefire deal and we need the hostages out. And so we will continue to work around the clock on that, work around the clock also understanding that we must try to (reach) a two-state solution.

“And in that solution, there must be security for the Israeli people in Israel and in equal measure for the Palestinians,” Harris continued.  “But the one thing that I will assure you always: I will always give Israel the ability to defend itself, in particular as it relates to Iran and any threat that Iran and its proxies pose to Israel.  But we must have a two-state solution where we can rebuild Gaza, where the Palestinians have security, self-determination, and the dignity they so rightly deserve.”

Next, former President Trump, the Republican presidential nominee responded:

“If I were President, it would have never started,” he declared. “If I were President, Russia would never, ever – I know [Russian President Vladimir] Putin very well and there was no threat of it either, by the way, for four years – have gotten into Ukraine and killed millions of people when you add it up, far worse than what people understand is going over there.

“But when she [Harris] mentions about Israel, all of a sudden. She hates Israel! She wouldn’t even meet with [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu when he went to Congress to make a very important speech. She refused to be there because she was at a sorority part of hers.  She wanted to go to the sorority party.  She hates Israel.”

“If she is President, I believe that Israel will not exist within two years from now,” Trump asserted.  “I have been pretty good at predictions and I hope that I am wrong about that one.  She hates Israel.  At the same time, in her own way, she hates the Arab population because the whole place is going to get blown up.  Arabs, Jewish people, Israel.  Israel will be gone. It would have never happened.  Iran was broke under Donald Trump.  Now Iran has $300 billion because they took off all the sanctions that I had. Iran had no money for Hamas or Hezbollah or any of the 28 spheres of terror.  There are spheres of terror—horrible terror. … They had no money for terror.  They were broke.  Now they are a rich nation and now what they are doing is that they are spreading that money around.  Look at what is happening with the Houthis and Yemen.  Look what is going on in the Middle East.  This would never have happened. I will get that settled fast and I will get the war with Ukraine and Russia ended. If I’m President-elect, I will get it done before even becoming President.”

Linsey Davis turned to Vice President Harris: “He says you hate Israel.”

“That is absolutely not true,” Harris responded.  ‘I have in my entire career and life supported Israel and the Israeli people.  He knows that.  He is trying again to divide and distract from the reality which is very well known that Donald Trump is weak and wrong on national security and foreign policy. It is well known that he admires dictators, wants to be a dictator on Day One, according to himself.

“It is well known that he said of Putin that ‘he can do whatever the hell he wants’ and go into Ukraine. It is well known that he said when Russia went into Ukraine, it was brilliant. It is well known that he exchanged ‘love letters’ with [North Korean dictator] Kim Jong Un, and it is absolutely well known that these dictators and autocrats are rooting for you [Trump] to be president again because they are so clear they can manipulate you with flattery and favors. And that is why so many military leaders who you have worked with have told me you are a disgrace. That is why we understand that we have to have a President who is not consistently weak and wrong on national security including the importance of upholding and respecting in the highest regard our military.”

To which Trump replied: “She is the one that caused it, that’s weak on national security by allowing every nation, last month for the year, 168 countries sending people into our country. Their crime rates are way down.  Putin endorsed her last week, said ‘I hope she wins’ and I think he meant it because what he’s gotten away with is absolutely incredible. It wouldn’t have happened with me.  The leaders of other countries think they’re weak and incompetent and they are.  And I just ask one question, why does Biden kill the Keystone pipeline and approve the single biggest deal Russian has ever made, Nord Stream, the biggest pipeline anywhere in the world going to Germany and all over Europe.  Because they are weak and ineffective, and Biden by the way was paid a lot of money.”

(This article provides the actual words of the candidates, without interpretation.  The fact checkers, as I write this, are very busy.)
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Donald H. Harrison is publisher and editor of San Diego Jewish World.