Harris calls out Biden administration over Israel’s actions in Gaza war

Former Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday said the Biden administration should have responded sooner to the Israeli government’s “horrific conduct” in the Gaza war.

Harris was speaking at the Asan Memorial Lecture in Seoul, South Korea, where she said the U.S. had “fallen short” on its “moral obligation to human rights and international law,” Israeli news outlet Haaretz reported .

“Most recently, the failure to use our leverage to curtail the Israeli government’s horrific conduct in the war in Gaza, both under the current administration, which offers Netanyahu a blank check, and our administration before, where we should have acted sooner and more forcefully,” she said, referring to both the Biden and Trump administrations.

The Republican Jewish Coalition slammed Harris for the remark, calling it “unsurprising” on the social platform X .

The remarks are in stark contrast with the uniform approach that former President Biden’s administration held in response to the war in Gaza.

The administration’s handling of the conflict became a defining issue during the 2024 presidential election, in which Harris lost to President Trump. The Institute for Middle East Understanding and YouGov conducted a poll that found 29 percent of Americans who voted for Biden in 2020 did not vote for Harris in 2024 because of the former president’s support of Israel’s war in Gaza.

Israel launched the war following the Hamas attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which left 1,200 dead. The ensuing war in Gaza killed more than 74,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which is controlled by Hamas.

Biden said in April 2024 that U.S. support for Israel was “ironclad,” though he later voiced frustration with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his war tactics and civilian deaths in the territory. The former president’s support for Netanyahu and his government did not falter despite Biden’s criticism of the prime minister for “hurting Israel more than helping” with his handling of the war.

Biden and Harris faced massive demonstrations from pro-Palestinian protesters calling on the U.S. to stop sending arms to Israel, accusing the administration of authorizing a genocide in the Middle East. Human rights groups and United Nations-commissioned experts have accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza, a claim that Netanyahu has denied.

“Here’s the simple truth. Israel didn’t commit genocide. Israel prevented genocide,” Netanyahu said before the United Nations General Assembly last month , calling the accusation the “greatest lie of the century.”

President Trump announced the first phase of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in October 2025, following this with the creation of the Gaza Board of Peace in January to oversee the territory’s reconstruction.