(JNS) Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz said in a radio interview on Thursday that anti-Israel protesters are “speaking out for all the right reasons” and that more pressure should be applied to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to accept a “Palestinian” state.
The Michigan NPR station WCMU asked the Minnesota governor how a Harris-Walz administration would break from the Biden administration handling Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
“We can’t allow what’s happened in Gaza to happen,” Walz said. “The Palestinian people have every right to life and liberty themselves. We need to continue to put the leverage on to make sure we move towards a two-state solution.”
“I think we’re at a critical point right now,” he added. “We need the Netanyahu government to start moving in that direction.”
Walz described the Oct. 7 attack as a “horrific act of violence against the people of Israel” and said that the Jewish state has the right to defend itself and that the United States “will always stand by that.”
He did not mention Hamas.
Walz complimented anti-Israel protesters, who have a significant presence in Michigan, as the state with the nation’s largest Arab population. “I think those folks who are speaking out loudly in Michigan are speaking out for all the right reasons,” he said. “It’s a humanitarian crisis. It can’t stand the way it is.”
Balancing the pro-and anti-Israel vote
The Biden-Harris administration’s handling of the war could be a critical issue on Election Day in swing states like Michigan and Pennsylvania, where balancing the pro- and anti-Israel vote could be a deciding factor given how close the race is expected to be.
Anti-Israel protesters have interrupted Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign events repeatedly since U.S. President Joe Biden dropped out of the race in July.
At a rally in Detroit in August, hecklers chanted “Kamala, Kamala, you can’t hide, we won’t vote for genocide.”
Responding to the anti-Israel message of the hecklers, Harris took a more combative approach than her running mate. “If you want Donald Trump to win, then say that,” she said. “Otherwise, I’m speaking.”
At a rally in Arizona two days later, she responded to another interruption by talking about “respecting the voices” of protesters.
“Now is the time to get a ceasefire deal and get the hostage deal done,” Harris said.
In his interview on Thursday, Walz ended his answer about Israel with a call to “find a way that people can live together.”
“Getting a ceasefire with the return of the hostages and then moving towards a sustainable two-state solution is the only way forward,” he said.
Matt Brooks, the CEO of the Republican Jewish Coalition, stated that “Joe Biden thinks the antisemitic, anti-Israel radical protestors ‘have a point,’ Kamala Harris appeases them, saying they ‘are showing exactly what the human emotion should be’ and now Tim Walz believes they ‘are speaking out for all the right reasons.’ What a total disgrace.”
“Let’s be clear: The mobs on our streets and college campuses are wildly antisemitic and anti-Israel and should be totally condemned in the strongest possible terms,” Brooks said. “It is shameful and appalling that the top leaders of today’s Democratic Party cannot firmly and directly reject their vile antisemitic base.”
“Kamala Harris and Tim Walz are choosing to put partisan politics ahead of the safety and security of the Jewish community and America’s key ally as it fights a war for its very survival. It is disgusting, and the American people will reject Harris and Walz’s extremism in November,” he added. “Their priorities are clearly not our priorities. Harris and Walz stand with the radical squad, not with us.”
