Harris could present a new challenge for Netanyahu: From the Politics Desk

Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, an evening newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the campaign trail, the White House and Capitol Hill.

In today’s edition, chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell explores the new dynamic between Vice President Kamala Harris and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Plus, we look at how JD Vance spent his first full week as Donald Trump's running mate on defense.

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Harris could present a new challenge for Netanyahu

By Andrea Mitchell

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu came to Washington expecting a platform for his Gaza policy.

Instead, he found all attention in the U.S. was on President Joe Biden’s decision to end his campaign — and the new Democratic front-runner, Vice President Kamala Harris, who has placed more emphasis on how Israel conducts the war and its devastating toll on civilians than Biden has, at least until recently.

And when the Israeli leader got to the White House for an Oval Office meeting he had been seeking for more than three years, the price was a second session listening to the complaints of American hostage families. They had already called his visit “political theater,” saying he should have stayed in Israel to focus on getting their loved ones home.

The wily Israeli politician also may have gone too far in publicly trying to tip the scales of the U.S. election. After maneuvering to be invited by the Republican House speaker to deliver a speech to Congress — an unprecedented fourth by a foreign head of state — he made a side trip to Mar-a-Lago on Friday and sat quietly at a televised photo