Harris responds to Gaza protesters at rally: ‘I am speaking now’

( The Hill ) — Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday was interrupted at a campaign rally by people protesting the war in Gaza for the first time since she launched her presidential campaign.

Demonstrators in the crowd at Harris’ Detroit rally repeatedly shouted out as the vice president spoke to an airplane hangar packed with supporters, “Kamala, Kamala you can’t hide, we won’t vote for genocide.” The crowd booed and drowned out the protesters with chants of “Kamala.”

“I’m here because we believe in democracy. Everyone’s voice matters, but I am speaking now. I am speaking now,” Harris said to applause.

As protesters continued to interrupt, Harris delivered a more blunt warning.

“You know what, if you want Donald Trump to win, then say that. Otherwise I’m speaking,” she said.

Michigan is home to a particularly high Arab American population, especially in the Detroit suburbs. Some Democrats have worried that the Biden administration’s handling of the war in Gaza could cost them votes in November.

Demonstrators protesting the war in Gaza had for months followed President Joe Biden on the campaign trail, carrying signs and shouting out in the middle of his speeches to chant things like “blood on your hands,” “genocide Joe” and “cease-fire now.”

The war in Gaza has divided some Democrats dating back to October when Hamas killed roughly 1,200 Israelis and took hundreds hostage. Israel has responded with a military campaign in Gaza that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.

Harris has been aligned with Biden in vowing ironclad support for Israel, and she has stressed that the way Israel carries out its war against Hamas matters and that more needs to be done to protect civilians in Gaza.

“I’ve said it many times but it bears repeating, Israel has a right to defend itself, but how it does so matters,” Harris said following a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last month.

“What has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating,” Harris added. “The images of dead children and desperate hungry people fleeing for safety, sometimes displaced for the second, third or fourth time. We cannot look away in the face of these tragedies. We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering, and I will not be silent.”

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