On Sunday, Vice President Kamala Harris called for a six-week cease-fire during a speech in Selma, Alabama. The call appears to be no different from the deal that US President Joe Biden has been pushing for between Israel and Hamas that would allow for a temporary cease-fire and the release of hostages. It has been reported that he hopes for such a deal to take hold on March 10.
“People in Gaza are starving. The conditions are inhumane, and our common humanity compels us to act. As President Joe Biden said on Friday, the United States has committed to urgently get more lifesaving assistance to innocent Palestinians in need,” the vice president said during a speech in the US state of Alabama.
“And given the immense scale of suffering in Gaza, there must be an immediate ceasefire - for at least the next six weeks, which is what is currently on the table. This will get the hostages out and get a significant amount of aid, and the Israeli government must do more to significantly increase the flow of aid,” Harris said, who also reiterated during her speech that the US supports Israel’s right to “defend” itself.
Misty Winston, a political activist, organizer and co-host of the Misty Winston Show and Free Assange Vigils, spoke to Sputnik’s Fault Lines on Tuesday about Harris’ speech. Fault Lines’ hosts and their guest pointed out that Harris chose to omit the word "pause" or "temporary" before announcing her call for a ceasefire.
“This clip makes me want to slam my head against a wall. The absolute audacity of this woman to get up there and pretend like she cares about the people of Palestine is just phenomenal,” Winston said of Harris. “The pandering, the absolute pandering and the, it's just the opportunism of doing that, and of using that moment in time to - it's just so gross. All of it is so gross,” said Winston, noting that the speech took place in Selma, Alabama, which was celebrating its 59th anniversary of the Bloody Sunday attacks on civil rights marchers.
“We're giving them money. We are the ones giving them the weapons to blow up Palestinian children. How about we just stop doing that? How about we just stop funding and arming the genocide? We could just do that. Then we don't have to send aid. We don't have to airdrop aid, which is mind blowing to me that we have to airdrop aid. Israel is nothing without us. We should be able to run some trucks in there and be like, 'hey, we're we're doing some aid, deal with it.'"
Sputnik’s Melik Abdul suggested that the Biden administration “knows what they’re doing” as the mainstream media assumes Harris has gone rogue, but is instead, simply rearticulating the same stance the administration has had for weeks.
“People hear what they want to hear, people want to hear ceasefire,” Winston explained. “So when she says the word ceasefire, not meaning a ceasefire, the people are like, 'oh, she said ceasefire.' People have been calling for politicians to say the word.”
“Bernie Sanders, took forever to say ceasefire. I mean, people want to hear those words coming from elected officials. And so when she says it and then very quietly, as the applause is drowning her out a little bit, says for 'the next six weeks' very softly. People hear ceasefire, and that's the buzz word, that's what they want to hear, and so they cheer for that thinking, 'oh, she said ceasefire,' when that's not really what she means,” Winston explained.
“It's election year pandering. They know that this is crushing them in the polls. They needed something to kind of rehabilitate that image desperately,” she added.
“So they use Kamala Harris to trot out there and pretend like they support a ceasefire when they absolutely do not. And as Melik just said, the media is going to spin this and run cover for them the whole way through it. And people, unfortunately, the population of the United States will, generally speaking, fall for this, especially those who are already Democratic leaning and are looking for reasons to continue to support the Democratic Party.”
The Biden administration’s unfaltering support for Israel has been aggressively criticized by key constituents including voters who are young, Black and/or Arab and has divided the Democratic Party. During Michigan’s primary last week, more than 100,000 people voted “uncommitted” instead of for Biden. And according to a recent poll, 60% of Americans disapprove of Biden’s handling of the conflict in the Gaza Strip, while a majority think Israel has gone too far in their fight to eliminate Hamas.