Transcript
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to the U.S. Congress again yesterday.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
He's given addresses to Congress four different times, which is more than any foreign leader in history. He's been around for a while. Netanyahu's latest, yesterday, included flourishes often seen in a presidential State of the Union address. He told stories of guests in the audience to illustrate and defend Israel's war against Hamas.
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PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU: For the forces of civilization to triumph, America and Israel must stand together.
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INSKEEP: Today, the prime minister meets President Biden at the White House and also meets with Vice President Harris. How she engages Netanyahu matters more now that she's running for president.
MARTIN: NPR White House correspondent Asma Khalid is with us now to tell us more about that. Good morning, Asma.
ASMA KHALID, BYLINE: Good morning.
MARTIN: So I wanted to ask you how you characterize the vice president's policies on Gaza. I mean, obviously, she's the vice president, so you'd assume that her policies would have to be in lockstep with the president's. But what would you say about how she approaches the issue?
KHALID: Well, the substance of what she's saying is similar to Biden. But she differs in style and tone. A Harris aide did describe her as having a, quote, "unwavering commitment to the security of Israel." I also talked with an adviser from Harris' days in the Senate, Halie Soifer, who told me what it was like at a recent White House event, in which she saw the vice president take on a real leadership role in condemning the use of sexual violence in the October 7 attacks. But really, Michel, the real difference from Biden is how Harris talks about people in Gaza. Take a listen to her comments from this past March in Selma, Ala.
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KAMALA HARRIS: What we are seeing every day in Gaza is devastating. We have seen reports of families eating leaves or animal feed, women giving birth to malnourished babies with little or no medical care.
KHALID: I've spoken with multiple people who've remarked to me that Harris shows a greater degree of empathy for Palestinian civilians than they have heard publicly from Biden.
MARTIN: Have these words affected how voters see her?
KHALID: Well, people I've spoken with in the Arab American community say that Harris is not viewed as being as toxic as Biden. I was speaking to Ruwa Romman. She's a Democratic Georgia state legislator, a Palestinian American, and she put it this way.
RUWA ROMMAN: I can tell you right now that if I had, for example, tried to go to a mosque or Arab community event and urge them to vote for Joe Biden, I would never be invited back. The anger was so deep, and the hurt was so deep, even for me. I tell people that. And I think people would at least be open to hearing from her and to let her make her case.
KHALID: And some Democrats who voted uncommitted during the primaries told me that they're willing to give Harris a chance. I mean, to be clear, they are not saying they will definitively vote for her, but there's a possibility. I'll also say that Harris was one of the earlier people in the administration to show a less dismissive response to some of the protests here at home.
MARTIN: Today she is meeting separately with Israel's prime minister, separately from Biden. What do you expect from her meeting?
KHALID: What I'm watching for is how closely she sticks to the president. You know, she inherits this problem now, and her campaign. And following the attack in October that killed more than 1,200 people, there are now more than 39,000 Palestinians who've been killed. And there's still no cease-fire. And some people will blame her because she is a part of this administration. She has a real delicate balancing act, where she's going to try not to alienate supporters of Israel, who make up a key part of the Democratic Party, but she's also trying to win back some of the young, progressive brown and Black voters whom Biden alienated with some of his decisions about this war.
MARTIN: That is NPR's Asma Khalid. Asma, thank you.
KHALID: Good to talk to you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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