Vice President Kamala Harris relayed her most forceful call for peace in Gaza, calling for a hostage deal and ceasefire in her presidential nomination speech at the final night of the Democratic National Convention on Thursday.
Harris used the convention stage to call for a ceasefire and suggest a two-state solution — a statement pro-Palestinian activists have been pushing for. She stopped short of promising an arms embargo on Israel, which protestors have been calling for, and relayed her support for Israel’s right to self-determination.
Outside of the convention’s security perimeter, pro-Palestine protests continued throughout the week of the event. Thousands of protesters demanded the Biden administration immediately sign an embargo on arms sales, ending all sales of U.S. weapons to Israel.
Harris said she and President Joe Biden are working on a solution to end the conflict such that Israel is secure, hostages are released, and the “Palestinian people can realize their dignity, security, freedom, and self-determination.”
“Let me be clear, I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself, and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself,” Harris said. “At the same time, what has happened in Gaza over the past 10 months is devastating, so many lives lost, desperate, hungry people fleeing for safety over and over again, the scale of suffering is heartbreaking.”
Harris contrasted her foreign policy to former president Donald Trump’s, who has been supportive of Israel’s war in Gaza and urged the country to “get it over with.”
“I will not cozy up to tyrants and dictators like Kim Jong Un who are rooting for Trump, because they know he is easy to manipulate with flattery and favors,” Harris said. “They know Trump won’t hold autocrats accountable because he wants to be an autocrat himself.”
Discussing the Ukraine-Russia conflict, Harris touted her involvement in warning Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky about a Russian invasion and helped mobilize a global response of over 50 countries to defend against Russia’s aggression.
Harris said as president she will stand strong with Ukraine and America’s NATO allies, and she highlighted Trump’s threats to abandon NATO and encouragement of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“As president, I will never waiver in defense of America’s security and ideals, because in the enduring struggle between democracy and tyranny, I know where I stand, and I know where the United States belongs,” Harris said.
Harris also laid out a more clear vision of her policy platform as she receives criticism for not having a policy tab on her campaigns website. She said building out the middle class is the defining goal of her presidency.
She also aims to grow the economy and create jobs, lowering the cost of everyday needs such as groceries and health care, and protect social security and Medicaid.
Trump has criticized Harris and the Biden administration for causing inflation through reckless spending.
Harris said she will cut taxes for the middle class, end the housing shortage, fight against gun violence, tackle the climate crisis, and protect reproductive freedom by allowing access to abortion care.
Harris promised to enact the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, which would require voting jurisdictions with a determined history of voting racial discrimination to get permission from the Department of Justice before making changes to their voting rules.
She also vowed to bring back the bipartisan border security act previously knifed by Trump. Harris said Trump struck down the bill as a way to boost his campaign for reelection.
“I know we can live up to our proud heritage as a nation of immigrants and reform our broken immigration system,” Harris said. “We can create an earned pathway to citizenship and secure our border.”
Harris heavily criticized Trump — angling directly at his involvement in the Jan. 6 insurrection, demand to recount votes in the 2020 presidential election, and felony convictions.
Harris said the former president tried to cast out American votes in the 2020 election and “fanned the flames” of the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
“In many ways, Donald Trump is an unserious man, but the consequences of putting Trump back in the White House are extremely serious,” Harris said.
Harris warned about Trump’s increasingly conservative agenda, Project 2025, and encouraged voters to look to the future, leading the massive, energetic crowd in a chant of “We will not go back.”
“It is now our turn to do what generations before us have done, guided by optimism and faith, to fight for this country we love, to fight for the ideals we cherish and to uphold the awesome responsibility that comes with the greatest privilege on Earth, the privilege and pride of being an American,” Harris said. “And together, let us write the next great chapter in the most extraordinary story to ever be told.”