Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA) said that Vice President Kamala Harris’s team may be interested in a “new direction” regarding U.S. policy regarding Israel amid the Gaza war.
The California lawmaker joined Meet The Press host Kristen Welker for an interview on Sunday to discuss aid to Israel amid the country’s war with Hamas that has left thousands of Palestinians dead. Khanna noted that he has been pushing the Harris team to support the enforcement of U.S. law to condition aid given to Israel.
Welker pressed Khanna on whether Harris was open to “conditioning aid” on Israel, but he denied having any knowledge on that issue.
WELKER: Let me ask you big picture about something. This is according to the Washington Post, who says that Vice President Harris would conduct a full review if elected of the U.S. Israel policy and could be open to imposing conditions on some aid to Israel? I know that that’s something that you have supported. Have you been pushing her directly to support conditioned aid to Israel?KHANNA: I’ve been pushing her to support the enforcement of U.S. law. That is what the enforcement of the Leahy Law and our security laws require that we don’t have unconditional aid. And, Kristen, this isn’t unprecedented. In 1982, after the Sabra and Shatila massacres in Lebanon, President Reagan called up Menachem Begin in Israel and said,
we will not give aid in a way that’s going to cause humanitarian crises. So we need to have pressure on both sides to end the war. And I’m glad the vice president’s open to a new direction.WELKER: As she expressed openness, though, to conditioning aid to you directly in some of your conversations.KHANNA: No, I will leave that for the vice president to articulate. But what she has at her team has expressed openness to a new direction. And look, anyone looking at this policy, you have hostages who still aren’t released. You have a war that has lasted almost 11 months. You have over 40,000 people in Gaza dying. We need a new direction of policy to bring the war to an end.
Watch the clip above via NBC News.