Harris faces protesters, condemns Israel’s war in Gaza on first night of book tour

NEW YORK (AP) — Former Vice President Kamala Harris, forced to confront Israel’s war in Gaza on the first night of her book tour, expressed compassion for the Palestinians and condemned President Donald Trump for giving the Israeli government “a blank check.”

“What’s happening to the Palestinian people is outrageous and it beaks my heart,” she told a packed New York City performance center on Wednesday night after being interrupted by the first of four pro-Palestinian protesters. “Donald Trump has given (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu a blank check to do whatever he wants.”

The comments came in the midst of a discussion about her new book, “107 Days,” which was released on Tuesday and details the hyperspeed campaign she launched against Trump after Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race.

Harris was initially scheduled to make one appearance at the 1,500-person capacity Times Square performance center, but her team added a second show earlier in the evening because of high interest.

Few issues have divided the nation — and the Democratic Party — more than the war in Israel.

More than 65,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war, Gaza’s Health Ministry said earlier in the month. The conflict erupted after the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas.

Democratic activists in particular have condemned leaders in both parties for not pushing back harder to stop the bloodshed.

Harris on Wednesday referenced her support for New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani, a Democrat who has also spoken out against the war in Gaza. She said the two spoke earlier in the day.

She said she told him she’s “excited” about his candidacy.

“You are bringing people in, and you are showing that there are voices that want to be heard, have felt left out and are now a part of what you are doing,” she said, referencing the conversation. “And that is so powerful.”

Outside the venue on Wednesday night, dozens of activists protested on the sidewalk. Inside, the event veered off script several minutes after it began when a protester started shouting from the audience.

“Your legacy is genocide. The blood of the Palestinians is on your hands,” the first one, a man wearing a medical mask, yelled before being escorted out by security. Later, another woman said, “This is your fault.”

As the crowd grew angry with the disruptions, Harris called on them to “take the temperature down.”

She noted that, as vice president, she first spoke out publicly about starvation in Gaza a year and a half ago. At the time, she said, she took “a lot of heat” from the Biden administration for speaking out on the sensitive issue.

“I understand your concern and how you feel — I think I do,” she told the third protester. “And the reality of it is where we are right now didn’t have to be this way — in terms of the blank check that this president has given.”

Several times over the course of the night, she criticized Trump. At one point, she said the Republican president and his allies are like “a communist dictatorship” for quashing dissent.

Shortly before the appearance, Trump lashed out at Harris on social media for saying in a recent interview that the 2024 presidential election loss was the closest in the 21st century. Harris repeated the claim on Wednesday in New York.

Trump called the former vice president “DUMB AS A ROCK.”

“A TOTAL LIE! I expect an apology. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” Trump wrote.

The U.S. doesn’t elect presidents by popular vote. In fact, Trump lost the popular vote to Hillary Clinton in 2016 and still won the presidency through the electoral college.

Trump won the electoral college over Harris, 312-226. There have been two closer elections since 2000. The closest was George W. Bush’s win over John Kerry in 2004.

Harris, who turns 61 next month, hasn’t detailed her future plans and was not asked about them at the book event. She’s already passed on an opportunity to run for governor of her home state of California.

There were decidedly mixed opinions about what she should do next — even among the hundreds who packed into the Times Square venue.

Valerie Lewis, 56, of New York City, said she’s hopeful that the former vice president can unify the badly divided country. She said she “would love” Harris to run for president again.

Lewis’ husband, 65-year-old Eugene Dixon, would not.

“She can’t do it,” Dixon said. “I don’t believe America is ready to have a woman president.”

Lewis rolled her eyes.

“It’s harder for a woman,” she said. “I don’t think it’s possible.”

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