Is President Joe Biden deliberately trying to hurt the Kamala Harris campaign, or did his recent comment about the death of the October 7 mastermind just reflect the differing viewpoints of the two leaders?

Biden lauded Israel on Thursday for its successful strike strike in Gaza that killed three terrorists including Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the Oct. 7, 2023 terror attack against Israel.

In a statement, Biden said, "Early this morning, Israeli authorities informed my national security team that a mission they conducted in Gaza likely killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.  DNA tests have now confirmed that Sinwar is dead.  This is a good day for Israel, for the United States, and for the world."

A fair comparison

Biden compared the strike on Sinwar to the U.S. action to take out the mastermind of the 9-11 attacks, Osama Bin Laden.

"To my Israeli friends, this is no doubt a day of relief and reminiscence, similar to the scenes witnessed throughout the United States after President Obama ordered the raid to kill Osama Bin Laden in 2011," he said.

"Israel has had every right to eliminate the leadership and military structure of Hamas. Hamas is no longer capable of carrying out another October 7," he added.

His stance on Israel has been much more supportive than Harris's, but some of that could be an effort to court the growing anti-Israel sentiment in the Democrat party.

What does she really think?

It's impossible to know what Harris's actual Israel policy is, because she has shown herself to be a political chameleon who says what she thinks voters want to hear.

It was shown when Biden was still running for re-election that his support for Israel hurt him in primaries, in some cases by hundreds of thousands of votes.

If people think Harris is going to support Israel similarly, they may not vote for her in less than three weeks.

Playing both sides

Biden's support for Israel is not unqualified, however.

His statement spoke of working on "ending the war once and for all" and for a future for Gaza without Hamas in leadership.

In recent days, the administration has also threatened to withhold weapons from Israel due to its new requirements on humanitarian aid even though Israel has sent large amounts of aid and just wants to make sure the aid is safe and doesn't contain any weapons Hamas can use.

In its rhetoric, at least, the Biden administration has tried to play both sides, but it's unclear whether voters will be fooled.