US presidential candidate Kamala Harris appeared to agree with a protester who called Israel’s war on Gaza a genocide on Saturday, saying that what he was talking about was “real”.
In a video widely circulated on social media on Saturday, a student interrupted Harris while she was speaking at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee.
Harris was telling students that she was “so invested in them” before the protesting student, who was wearing a kuffiyeh in solidarity with Palestinians, told her “And in genocide, right? Billions of dollars in genocide you invested in?”
The Democrat vice-presidential candidate said that she respected the student’s right to speak.
"I respect your right to speak. I'm speaking right now, I know what you're speaking of. I want the ceasefire. I want the war to end," she said.
However, the student continued to confront Harris with the casualty figures from Israel’s indiscriminate war on Gaza, telling Harris “What about genocide? 42,000 people are dead, 19,000 children are dead and you won’t call it a genocide.”
He was then ejected from the room by university police, and cited for disorder.
After he left Harris said, "Listen, what he’s talking about, it’s real. It’s real. That’s not the subject that I came to discuss today, but it’s real, and I respect his voice."
Harris, although saying she wants a ceasefire, has been frequently criticised for her continued support for Israel despite its ongoing indiscriminate killing in Gaza.
She has ruled out cutting off arms supplies to Israel and reiterated her support for what she calls Israel’s “right to defend itself”.
Many Arab-American voters, many of whom live in the crucial swing state of Michigan, have said they will not vote for her.
On Saturday, Israeli airstrikes killed 87 people in Beit Lahia in northern Gaza, as Israeli forces continued to implement a suspected plan to force inhabitants of the north of the Gaza Strip to leave their homes or face death or starvation.
In further comments on Saturday, Harris said that the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar by Israel “creates an opening that I believe we must take full advantage of - to dedicate ourselves to ending this war and bringing the hostages home”.
She also called what was happening in Gaza a “tragedy” and spoke of the “extraordinary number of innocent Palestinians that have been killed”.