Progressive Democrats are hopeful Kamala Harris would approach Israel policy differently to Biden

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s joint address to Congress re-opened the longstanding divide that progressives have with President Joe Biden on Israel-Palestine. And they are unsure whether Vice President Kamala Harris — who is all but guaranteed to now lead the Democratic ticket now that Biden announced he would not seek re-election — would be an improvement.

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a progressive from New York who did not attend Netanyahu’s speech, told The Independent the US must be “willing to enforce in a stronger, more forceful way US law, which means conditioning military assistance to respect human rights, and to ensure that US resources are not going toward the violation of human rights.”

But when asked if she was confident Harris could provide a path forward on these issues, Ocasio-Cortez didn’t give a clear answer.

“My hope is that our advocacy will always be a success,” she simply told The Independent.

Others told The Independent they are more confident in the vice president’s policy.

Representative Sara Jacobs of California, the youngest Jewish member of Congress, told The Independent she’s encouraged by the fact that Harris has a positive track record on advocating for a ceasefire.

“I think it’s very telling that she was the first person in the administration to call for a ceasefire, and I hope we’ll continue seeing her do that,” Jacobs toldThe Independent just ahead of Netanyahu’s address to Congress.

Representative Robert Garcia of California, another progressive who boycotted Netanyahu’s address, praised Harris along the same lines.

“Knowing what I know about her and her work as vice president, I think she’ll be very focused on worldwide peace and making sure that the United