Administration officials reportedly watered down Kamala Harris' Gaza speech
2 Video Views·Mar 5, 2024
A former U.S. official told NBC News that the National Security Council toned down parts of Vice President Kamala Harris’ speech calling for an immediate six-week cease-fire between Israel and Hamas. NBC News’ Matt Bradley reports that the revisions were focused on tone as U.S. relations with Israel remain shaky,
We reported on Vice President Kamala Harris' speech in Alabama.
She criticized Israel over the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.
Today NBC News has some exclusive reporting about how administration officials actually
watered down parts of that speech which were especially critical of Israel.
Real quick here, what can you tell us about that?
Yeah, I mean it's interesting because this was done by the National Security Council
which is of course part of the same administration.
The fact is, is from our own reporting from my colleagues in Washington, they said that
this wasn't a substantive shift that was imposed upon Kamala Harris' speech.
It was more a question of tone.
There was no policy change, there was nothing that she was going to announce about American
posture towards Israel that the National Security Council walked back.
But still, it does go to show that Kamala Harris did have a more forceful tone in mind,
a more forceful speech against Israel, and that the U.S., which has been falling out
with Benjamin Netanyahu for the past several months, decided to rein that in just a little
bit now.
Whether or not the thinking is that it's best to just keep Israel on side, this is part
of an evolving relationship between Washington and Israel, and one that we're going to see
continue to evolve probably in the coming months.