Vice President Kamala Harris recently refused to say whether she believes that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is a good ally to the United States. 

The New York Post reports that Harris refused to do so during her interview with CBS News' 60 Minutes. 

This all comes at the one-year anniversary of Hamas' terrorist attack on the Israeli people. Israel, of course, has responded by launching its own attack on the terrorists, much to the dismay of the Biden-Harris administration, which has been pushing for a ceasefire for months.

The situation recently escalated when Iran launched a large number of missiles at Israel. Now, Israel is vowing to retaliate, but it appears that the Biden-Harris administration is trying to hold Israel back.

Harris's latest non-answer

During the CBS interview, Harris was asked whether Netanyahu is a "real, close ally" of the United States.

The vice president, however, decided to ask and to answer her own question.

She said:

I think, with all due respect, the better question is, do we have an important alliance between the American people and the Israeli people? And the answer to that question is yes.

You can watch Harris's response for yourself here:

Monday, on a 60 Minutes election special, Bill Whitaker asks Vice President Kamala Harris if the U.S. lacks influence over American ally Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. https://t.co/TG3WOCA23A pic.twitter.com/IH6MXMjuCP

— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) October 6, 2024

The Democrats' Israel problem

To be fair to Harris, there is no easy way for her to address the Israel situation, and this is because a large percentage of Harris's supporters are anti-Israel.

Accordingly, if Harris were to say anything that is pro-Israel or pro-Netanyahu, she would face a backlash from many Democrats - a backlash that might be large enough to jeopardize her chances in the 2024 presidential election.

In fact, even though Harris has shown herself to be anything other than pro-Israel, she is still facing criticism from many Democrats who claim that she has not been sufficiently anti-Israel.

Harris's opponent in the 2024 presidential election, former President Donald Trump has, in contrast, shown himself to be clearly pro-Israel. For example, Trump recently said that Israel ought to respond to Iran's missile barrage by, first, taking out Iran's nuclear weapons program.

This kind of statement is far less problematic for Trump because his supporters, by and large, are not anti-Israel. This is just one of the narratives that could end up playing a large role in the upcoming election, especially considering that many anti-Israel Americans live in swing states.