By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO – Vice President Kamala Harris, in a Pennsylvania Town Hall moderated by Cable News Network’s Anderson Cooper, offered three suggestions Wednesday night for fighting antisemitism.
“Part of what we have got to do is talk with people so that they understand what are the tropes, what are the roots of what we are seeing, so that we can have people be more understanding,” she began her answer to a question posed by an audience member named Beth.
Second, “We need to have laws in place that makes those who commit crimes on behalf of antisemitism and hate, that they pay a serious consequence,” she said.
Third, “We need to insure that college students are safe in their school and feel safe to be able to go to class.”
Then she pivoted to a theme she had been stressing recently on the campaign trail, how aghast she is that according to Marine Corps General John Kelly, who served as Donald Trump’s chief of staff, that Trump demanded to know why his generals weren’t more like Adolph Hitler’s generals.
Cooper asked Harris if she believed that Trump (whose daughter Ivanka, son-in-law Jared Kushner, and grandchildren are Jewish) is antisemitic.
She didn’t answer directly. Instead she said, “I believe Donald Trump is a danger to the wellbeing and security of America.”
Cooper then responded, “He is casting himself as a protector of Israel. Do you believe that you will be more pro-Israel than Donald Trump?”
Again, the Democratic presidential candidate did not answer directly. She responded, in part, “Anderson, c’mon, this is a serious, serious issue and we know who he is. He (former President Donald Trump, the Republican presidential nominee in this election) admires dictators, sending love letters back and forth with {North Korea’s] Kim Jung-un; talks about the President of Russia, and most recently there were reports that in the height of Covid when most Americans could not get their hands on a Covid test – Americans were dying by the hundreds a day – he secretly sent Covid tests to the President of Russia [Vladimir Putin] for his personal use.”
She portrayed herself as someone who is “fighting against hate, as opposed to fanning the flames of hate, which Donald Trump does consistently.”
Another questioner, Emily, asked Harris, “As President what would you do to insure not another Palestinian dies due to bombs being funded by U.S. tax dollars?”
Harris responded: “I will say, and I think this is to your point, far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed. It is unconscionable. And we are now at a place where with (Hamas leader Yahya) Sinwar’s death, I do believe that we have an opportunity to end this war, bring the hostages home, bring relief to the Palestinian people and work toward a two-state solution where Israel and the Palestinians in an equal measure have security, where the Palestinian people have dignity, self-determination, and the safety that they so rightly deserve.”
Cooper followed up, asking what the vice president would tell voters “who are thinking about supporting a third-party candidate or staying on the couch, or not voting at all, because of this issue.”
Harris replied, “Listen, I am not going to deny the strong feelings that people have. I don’t know anyone who has seen the images of this who would not have strong feelings about what has happened, much less those who have relatives who have died and been killed. I know people and have talked with people. So, I appreciate that, but I also know that for many people who care about this issue, they also care about bringing down the price of groceries, they also care about democracy, and not having a president of the united states who admires dictators and is a fascist. They also care about the fact that we need practical, commonsense solutions from a leader who is willing to work across the aisle on behalf of the American people and not for themselves. They want a president who cares about a fundamental freedom to make decisions about your own body, understanding that we are not trying to change anyone’s beliefs but let’s not have the government telling women what to do with their body.”
During the Town Hall – to which Donald Trump declined CNN’s invitation to participate – Harris was asked about a report that after President Joe Biden said he would not seek reelection, she called her pastor – the Rev. Dr. Amos C. Brown of the Third Baptist Church in San Francisco. She said she needed a “spiritual kind of connection. I needed that advice, I needed a prayer.”
“And there is a part of the Scripture that talks about Esther and a time such as this and that is what we talked about and it was very comforting for me,” Harris said.
Esther was the biblical queen who persuaded King Ahasuerus to save the Jews of Persia from his vizier Haman’s plan to destroy them – a story that is celebrated every Purim.
Cooper asked the vice president if she prays every day, and she responded “every day … sometimes twice a day. I was raised to believe in a loving God, to believe that your faith is a verb … You live your faith and the way that one should do that … your life’s work should be how you serve in a way that is about uplifting other people… caring for other people. That is a lot about how I think about my work and what is important.”
Asked by another questioner, Joe, what might be her weakness, she responded that while some people think it is a weakness, she believes it is a strength: she prefers to formulate policy after consulting with a team of smart people who represent diverse viewpoints.
“I take my role and responsibility as an elected leader very seriously and I know the impact it may have on so many people that I may never meet,” she said. That is why I engage and bring folks around. So, I may not be quick to have the answer as soon as you ask it about a specific policy or issue sometimes because I am going to want to research it. I am going to want to study it. I’m kind of a nerd sometimes.”
She added: “Some might call that a weakness, especially if you are in an interview or asked a certain question and you are expected to have the right answer right away, but that is how I work.”
Cooper said that the questioners in the audience were all undecided voters, some Democrats, some Republicans, and some independents. The questions were theirs alone, unedited by CNN.
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Donald H. Harrison is publisher and editor of San Diego Jewish World