JMA-PSOS

OpenDemocracy.net published in August the best explainer I read so far on Kamala Harris' Israel-Palestine position. The interesting thing is that it acknowledges that her position to the left of Biden is trying to appease the wavering/bleeding leftmost progressive flank support, but it does not really mention that her shift presents the danger of leaking support on its more conservative rightmost flank, especially with its Zionist and protestant Christian strong Israel supporters.

By talking more progressive and doing Zionist things is at best threading a very narrow winning path different enough but not too different from Biden's and Trump's Zionist positions and at worst, effectively having her cake (now) and eating it too (later) by appearing progressive enough before the election and then staying the usual US course on Israel after (e.g. its #1 and often sole enabler diplomatically, militarily and economically as it has been for half+ century).

I will give Kamala (a very slim) benefit of the doubt, but I put the chance of a fair two-state solution and rapid Israel war deescalation (to some pre-October 7 normalcy or at the very least a near-complete detachment of the US war and diplomatic machine from the Palestinian genocide) within Harris' first term at around 15%. I will be happy if I am proven wrong, and ecstatic if very wrong.

The current attacks on Kamala Harris for a July 2016 speech at a mosque in which she denounced "radical islamic terrorism" and "illegal alien" terminology, need some context. Back then, in full presidential election campaigning, the GOP and Trump especially kept insisting that Obama and Clinton don't use the first term sufficiently after the Orlando mass shooting (which was committed by a radicalized Afghan-American terrorist). This eventually led to Clinton starting to use the term and Obama explaining himself at a townhall as to why he does not use it:

“There is no doubt, and I’ve said repeatedly, where we see terrorist organizations like al Qaeda or ISIL – They have perverted and distorted and tried to claim the mantle of Islam for an excuse for basically barbarism and death,” he said.

“These are people who’ve killed children, killed Muslims, take sex slaves, there’s no religious rationale that would justify in any way any of the things that they do,” he said. “But what I have been careful about when I describe these issues is to make sure that we do not lump these murderers into the billion Muslims that exist around the world, including in this country, who are peaceful, who are responsible, who, in this country, are fellow troops and police officers and fire fighters and teachers and neighbors and friends.”