Harris Can Declare a Change From Biden’s Israel Policy Now

She should follow VP Biden’s example in defying Obama on LGBT rights

Image: Daniel Schwen, CC

Progressives and those opposed to the ongoing genocide in Gaza have been pushing Vice President and Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris to declare an arms embargo against Israel at least until such time as that nation’s far right regime stops committing horrific war crimes. Harris has called for a ceasefire in Gaza. But she has not yet agreed to end arm shipments in order to push Israel towards that ceasefire.

Some Harris partisans have argued that she cannot make commitments that put her at odds with the current policy of President Joe Biden, her former running mate and current boss. And it’s true that in general Vice-Presidents are expected to support and affirm the policies of their running mate.

There are exceptions though. The most obvious is Vice-President Mike Pence, who refused to participate in President Donald Trump’s coup attempt. But there’s also at least one notable instance in which Joe Biden himself, when he was Vice-President, refused to promote the policies of his President, Barack Obama.

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Biden Pushes Obama on Marriage Equality

Today marriage equality is broadly accepted and popular. Even in the middle of a massive Republican led homophobic moral panic, gay marriage has so much popular support that Biden was able to get a bipartisan bill passed ensuring that gay and lesbian marriages would be respected in all states even if the Supreme Court guts constitutional rights for LGBT people.  

The consensus in favor of marriage equality is so well-established that it’s hard to remember just how contentious the politics around the issue were even 15 years ago. But in the 2008 election, Democrats were afraid that opposition to gay marriage in the Black church could dim enthusiasm for candidate Barack Obama, harming their electoral chances against the openly homophobic Republicans. So Obama hedged, and supported civil unions for gay and lesbian people, but not marriage. He said that he had trouble reconciling marriage equality with his Christian beliefs.

Obama continued to refuse support for marriage equality during his first four years in office. During his reelection campaign in 2012, he continued to vacillate…until his Vice-President, Joe Biden, forced his hand.

Biden was generally seen as to Obama’s right on most issues; he had a decades-long reputation as a centrist. But on May 4, 2012, he appeared on Meet the Press and deliberately and forcefully distanced himself from Obama’s own centrist compromise, using unambiguous moral language.

I am absolutely comfortable with the fact that men marrying men, women marrying women, and heterosexual men and women marrying one another are entitled to the same exact rights, all the civil rights, all the civil liberties. Who do you love? And will you be loyal to the person you love? And that’s what people are finding out is what all marriages, at their root, are about, whether they’re marriages of lesbians or gay men or heterosexuals.

The statement put Obama in a difficult position. He could alienate some religious conservative voters (including perhaps some religious conservative Black voters, who might otherwise cast ballots for him) in swing states like Ohio, North Carolina and Colorado. Or he could look less progressive than his own Vice-President on the chief civil rights issue of the day.

Biden’s statement ultimately pushed Obama off the fence. He endorsed marriage equality less than a week after Biden did.

Palestine Is Different—But Not That Different

There are certainly differences between marriage equality in 2012 and Gaza policy now. Today it seems fairly clear that Obama lied about his own beliefs on marriage equality; he didn’t really have religious objections. He was pretending he did because he thought it would boost his electoral chances. Some reports also suggest that Obama was planning to embrace marriage equality before the Democratic convention. Biden, if this is correct, moved the timetable up, but didn’t really change the strategy.

In contrast, Biden has been a longtime Zionist, and there’s every indication that his Israel policy—including providing arms despite Israeli war crimes—is based at least in part on personal conviction. As for Harris, we don’t really know much about her deep-seated beliefs are on this issue. She seems to be less all-in on support for Israel no-matter-what than Biden. But she’s deliberately kept her position vague.

The other big distinction, of course, is that in 2012 Biden was running for Vice-President; Obama did not drop out of the race. Biden was not supposed to be articulating his own policy in any way, shape, or form; the entire reason he was on television was to promote Obama and Obama’s policies. When Biden came out for marriage equality, he was pretty deliberately knifing not Obama, but other advisors in Obama’s orbit who were arguing for a more timid (and less moral) approach.

Biden would probably be upset if Harris said “I think we need to stop arms shipments to Israel if Netanyahu continues to violate international law.” But he’d also have to realize it’s not his campaign.

Biden’s policy in Gaza is generally understood to be a sweeping failure. Hamas has not been defeated, Netanyahu has deliberately undermined efforts to free hostages, a regional war looms. And that’s before you get to the IDF’s horrific war crimes, including recent revelations of unbelievably nightmarish video of Israeli soldiers sexually assaulting Palestinian prisoners. If Harris sees another path forward—again it’s her campaign. Harris is running for president; Biden is not. And while she’s building on his platform, she is not required, and is not even expected, to endorse his every policy or cosign his every statement.

The Moral Choice Isn’t Necessarily Bad Politics

Harris is reluctant to take a harder line with Israel for the same reason Obama was reluctant to come out for marriage equality. Enthusiasm for Israeli policy in the US has weakened a lot, but the fact remains that Israel has a lot of support in the US.

Harris is trying to keep her positions vague because she doesn’t want to alienate Zionists (both Jewish and non-Jewish) who want full throated support for Israel, but also doesn’t want to alienate those (Jewish and non-Jewish) who believe stopping the Israeli genocide is a moral imperative. Calling for a ceasefire without promising to put real pressure on Israel via arms embargoes is a position, like civil unions, which doesn’t satisfy anyone, but which Harris hopes will keep both sides onboard through the election.

It's worth noting that Biden’s decision to make a strong statement on LGBT issues didn’t hurt the campaign. On the contrary, when Obama announced his support for marriage equality, he got a huge fundraising boost. And in retrospect, Biden’s statement on marriage equality doesn’t look like a gaffe or a misstep. It looks like a courageous moral stance, and one of the finest moments of his Vice-Presidency—just as Pence’s refusal to participate in the coup is likely to be remembered as the moral high point of his life. (Admittedly, a low bar in Pence’s case. But still.)

The future is hard to predict, and the politics of Gaza right now are difficult to negotiate for any Democratic leader. But Harris is not constrained to follow Biden the president. She could instead follow Biden the Vice-President, who did the right thing in a difficult situation, to the benefit of his country and his legacy.