Vice President Harris hosts Israeli war Cabinet member as the US pushes to get more aid into Gaza

By AAMER MADHANI and SEUNG MIN KIM (Related Press)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Vice President Kamala Harris met on Monday with a member of Israel’s wartime Cupboard who got here to Washington in defiance of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu because the Biden administration intensifies its efforts to push extra humanitarian support into war-battered Gaza.

White Home officers mentioned Benny Gantz, a centrist political rival of Netanyahu, requested the assembly and that the Democratic administration believed it was necessary that Harris sit down with the outstanding Israeli official regardless of Netanyahu’s objections.

President Joe Biden, Harris and different senior administration officers have change into more and more blunt about their dissatisfaction with the mounting demise toll in Gaza and the struggling of harmless Palestinians because the warfare nears the five-month mark.

“The president and I’ve been aligned and constant from the very starting,” Harris mentioned in an change with reporters shortly earlier than assembly with Gantz. “Israel has a proper to defend itself. Far too many Palestinian civilians, harmless civilians have been killed. We have to get extra support in, we have to get hostages out. and that continues to be our place.”

The White Home, in a press release following the assembly, mentioned Harris and Gantz mentioned the urgency of finishing a hostage deal to free greater than 100 folks believed nonetheless to be in captivity in Gaza following Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault on Israel. She additionally reiterated the administration’s assist for a brief prolonged cease-fire that might facilitate the discharge of hostages and permit for a surge of humanitarian help all through Gaza.

Though Gantz holds most of the similar hardline views as Netanyahu, he has been seen as extra open to compromise on vital points, together with the elevated supply of humanitarian help.

The assembly comes after the U.S. on Saturday carried out the primary of what are anticipated to be ongoing airdrops of humanitarian support into Gaza.

The second is reflective of the more and more awkward dynamics within the U.S.-Israel relationship, with the U.S. compelled to fly badly wanted support previous its shut ally because it appears to be like to ramp up help for determined civilians in Gaza. The primary airdrop occurred simply days after greater than 100 Palestinians had been killed as they had been attempting to get meals from an Israel-organized convoy.

The White Home agreed to the assembly with Gantz whilst an official from Netanyahu’s nationalist Likud occasion mentioned Gantz didn’t have approval from the prime minister for his conferences in Washington. Netanyahu gave Gantz a “robust discuss” in regards to the go to — underscoring a widening crack inside Israel’s wartime management.

“We have now been coping with all members of the warfare Cupboard, together with Mr. Gantz,” White Home nationwide safety spokesman John Kirby mentioned. “We see this as a pure outgrowth of these discussions. We’re not going to show away that kind of alternative.”

Along with his talks with Harris, Gantz met with White Home nationwide safety adviser Jake Sullivan and Nationwide Safety Council Center East coordinator Brett McGurk. Gantz was met with Senate Minority Chief Mitch McConnell and on Tuesday will sit down with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Gantz ,simply earlier than the beginning of his White Home conferences, informed a reporter with Israel’s public broadcaster Kan: “There might be an open and trustworthy dialog between two pleasant and necessary international locations and companions.”

Biden is at Camp David, the presidential retreat simply outdoors Washington, till Tuesday as he prepares to ship the annual State of the Union handle later this week.

Over the weekend, Harris issued a forceful name for a brief cease-fire deal in Gaza, which administration officers say would halt preventing for at the least six weeks. She additionally elevated stress on Israel to not impede the help that staff are attempting to get into the area. The White Home has been advocating for that framework deal for weeks.

Israel has primarily agreed to the deal, in response to a senior Biden administration official, and the White Home has emphasised that the onus is on Hamas to return on board.

Biden faces mounting political stress at residence over his administration’s dealing with of the Israeli-Hamas warfare, which was triggered when militants in Gaza launched an assault, killing 1,200 folks and taking about 250 folks hostage.

In final week’s Michigan presidential major, greater than 100,000 Democratic major voters forged ballots for “uncommitted.” Biden nonetheless simply gained the state’s major, however the “uncommitted” vote mirrored a coordinated push by voters on the left to register their dissatisfaction with the president’s unwavering assist for Israel as its navy operations in Gaza have left greater than 30,000 Palestinians lifeless. The vote totals elevate considerations for Democrats in a state Biden gained by solely 154,000 votes in 2020.

Gantz, who polls present might be a formidable candidate for prime minister if a vote had been held at present, is seen as a political reasonable. However he has remained imprecise about his view of Palestinian statehood — one thing that Biden sees as important to forging an enduring peace as soon as the battle ends however that Netanyahu adamantly opposes.

It is usually assumed that when the heavy preventing subsides, Gantz will depart the federal government, which might improve stress for early elections.

Since Gantz joined Netanyahu’s three-minister warfare Cupboard in October, U.S. officers have discovered him to be simpler to take care of than both Netanyahu or Protection Minister Yoav Gallant.

Till now, requires elections have been muted because of the warfare, however analysts suppose that when Gantz leaves the federal government, it should ship a sign to the Israeli public that the necessity for nationwide unity has handed and efforts to oust Netanyahu’s authorities can start in earnest.

For his half, Gantz was aiming to strengthen ties with the U.S., bolster assist for Israel’s warfare and push for the discharge of Israeli hostages, in response to a second Israeli official. The officers spoke on situation of anonymity as a result of they weren’t allowed to publicly talk about the disputes throughout the Israeli authorities. Gantz is scheduled to move to London for conferences after his U.S. go to.

It was unclear if Gantz throughout his White Home talks diverged from Netanyahu’s stances on Palestinian statehood or finishing up an expanded operation within the southernmost Gaza metropolis of Rafah. The Biden administration has repeatedly warned Israel towards a Rafah operation with no plan to guard civilians, and the White Home mentioned Harris reiterated that place in her assembly with Gantz.

“I don’t doubt there are some administration officers who imagine simply by assembly with Gantz they’re undermining Netanyahu,” mentioned Richard Goldberg, a senior adviser on the Basis for Protection of Democracies, a conservative Washington suppose tank. “But when Gantz carries the federal government’s line on key problems with disagreement, these conferences are net-negative for the White Home whereas useful again residence for Gantz.”

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Related Press writers Tia Goldenberg in Tel Aviv, Israel; Wafaa Shurafa in Rafah, Gaza Strip; Samy Magdy in Cairo and Matthew Lee and Zeke Miller contributed to this report.