On Friday’s broadcast of CNN’s “OutFront,” host Erin Burnett and KFile Senior Editor Andrew Kaczynski discussed Kaczynski’s reporting on how the campaign of 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Vice President Kamala Harris is running ads with starkly different messages on Israel and Gaza depend on which group they’re targeting.
Burnett began by saying, “Tonight, mixed messages, a KFile investigation this hour finds Kamala Harris is targeting crucial battleground voters with vastly different messages on Gaza and Israel. This ad is running in Michigan, which has the largest Arab population in America.”
She then played the ad, where Harris says, “What has happened in Gaza over the past nine months is devastating. … We cannot allow ourselves to become numb to the suffering, and I will not be silent.”
Burnett then stated, “Well, it’s a very different story for an ad in Pennsylvania targeting Jewish voters.”
In that ad, Harris says, “[L]et me be clear, I will always stand up for Israel’s right to defend itself, and I will always ensure Israel has the ability to defend itself, because the people of Israel must never again face the horror that a terrorist organization called Hamas caused on October 7[.]”
In another portion of that ad that wasn’t played on “OutFront,” Harris says, “I will never hesitate to take whatever action is necessary to defend our forces and our interests against Iran and Iran-backed terrorists.”
Kaczynski said that the difference in the messages “really illustrates the sort of fine line that the Harris campaign is trying to walk here in the closing weeks, closing days of this campaign on the issue of Israel. Here, you have two entirely different constituencies, and they are getting two entirely different messages that are — oftentimes, these constituencies have very opposing views on this.”
He added that in the ad targeting Jewish voters, it “sort of sounds like those two clips of her talking about Israel are together, but they actually cut part of it out.”
Kaczynski then played a clip of the part Harris omitted, where she says, “What has happened in Gaza over the past ten months is devastating. … President Biden and I are working to end this war, such that Israel is secure, the hostages are released, the suffering in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can realize their right to dignity, security, freedom, and self-determination.”
He added, “Now, look, she’s also getting hammered a lot on this issue by Republicans. We talked, just a couple of days ago, about how those robocalls were airing in Wisconsin that are made to sound like they’re in support of Jill Stein, talking about her position on Gaza, saying that — they’re highlighting her pro-Israel position.”
Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett
