Vice President Kamala Harris will mark Monday’s one-year anniversary of the October 7 attacks in Israel at her Naval Observatory residence, where, along with second gentleman Doug Emhoff, she’ll plant a memorial tree, according to a White House official.
Second families have traditionally planted trees on the grounds of the vice president’s residence. Monday’s planting of a pomegranate tree — which, among other things, represents hope and righteousness in Judaism — will mark the first for Harris and Emhoff while they’ve been at the residence, according to the official.
The escalating violence in the Middle East has been one of the thorniest issues for Harris as she’s taken over the Democratic ticket this year. Arab American advocates and leaders have pushed for the vice president to distance herself from President Joe Biden’s Israel policy, including during a meeting in Michigan on Friday.
Harris has maintained that Israel has a right to defend itself while also acknowledging the heightened emotions surrounding the humanitarian crisis in the region.
She’s also previously spotlighted the violence that unfolded on October 7. In June, she hosted a White House event focused in part on the Israel-Hamas war as part of an effort to highlight conflict-related sexual violence.
Harris and Emhoff, who is Jewish, are also expected to deliver remarks to reporters Monday. The vice president will reflect on October 7 and reaffirm her commitment to the security of Israel and of the Jewish people, the official said.
Emhoff will also attend the American Jewish Committee October 7 commemoration in Washington, DC, where he will recite a prayer.
At least 1,200 people were killed in Israel on October 7, 2023, when more than 1,500 Hamas fighters attacked, and others are still held hostage by Hamas. Israel’s subsequent war in Gaza has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, according to the health ministry there, and created a dire humanitarian crisis.
Harris has forcefully spoken about the situation unfolding in Gaza — notably, in remarks in Selma, Alabama, in March, when she said people in the region are “starving” in the face of “inhumane” conditions.
Harris told CBS’ “60 Minutes” in an interview that airs Monday that the US has had an influence on Israeli decision-making, even as the Middle East inches toward a wider conflict, but would not say whether she believes the US has a “close ally” in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“The work that we do diplomatically with the leadership of Israel is an ongoing pursuit around making clear our principles, which include the need for humanitarian aid, the need for this war to end, the need for a deal to be done, which would release the hostages and create a ceasefire. And we’re not going to stop in terms of putting that pressure on Israel and in the region, including Arab leaders,” she said when asked whether the US has sway over Netanyahu.
When pressed on the appearance that Israeli leadership did not always seem to be listening to the US, Harris — without providing specifics — said the administration has had an influence.
“The work that we have done has resulted in a number of movements in that region by Israel that were very much prompted by or a result of many things, including our advocacy for what needs to happen in the region,” she said.
During Harris’ Friday meeting in Michigan, Arab American advocates asked the vice president to push harder for an end to the war in Gaza, amid increasing frustration over her response to Israel’s recent escalations in Lebanon.
The conversation, scheduled to last 10 minutes, ended up going 20, according to Wa’el Alzayat, the CEO of Emgage Action, a group aimed at boosting the Muslim American vote. Harris did not make any promises, he said, but told them “that she also wants the war to end and that she will do all she can to work in this regard.”
Harris has occasionally been disrupted at campaign rallies by pro-Palestinian protesters. In those moments, the vice president has stressed that the administration is working toward a ceasefire deal.
