Progressive Politics

When Harris chose progressive Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate, who previously bent a listening ear to “Uncommitted” delegates who called for an arms embargo on Israel, cautious optimism grew, but questions remained.

But when Harris sat down for an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash on Thursday, her first since the start of her campaign, the vice president seemed to shut the door on the possibility of change.

When asked whether Harris would “do anything differently” in her approach to ceasefire talks and withholding weapons shipments to Israel, Harris, with Walz by her side, doubled down on her “commitment to Israel’s defense and its ability to defend itself.”

Advocates of the arms embargo point to the Leahy Law, a 1997 law that prohibits U.S. assistance to any military unit that is known to commit “a gross violation of human rights.”

Evidence of human rights violations continue to mount in Israel’s operations in Gaza, including bombing civilians and civilian infrastructure such as hospitals, blocking aid, and torturing and abusing Palestinian detainees in its prisons. Israel’s leaders face war crime charges from the International Criminal Court, along with an ongoing genocide case within the U.N. International Court of Justice.