CNN Highlights Contradictory Harris Ads on Israel-Gaza
CNN’s Erin Burnett took issue with Vice President Kamala Harris’s campaign for delivering mixed messages on the Israel-Gaza conflict, targeting voters in different battleground states with contrasting ads.
On her show OutFront, Burnett was joined by CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski to review his findings on the “fine line that the Harris campaign is trying to walk” in its attempt to appeal to both Arab voters in Michigan and Jewish voters in Pennsylvania.
Burnett played a current Michigan ad in which Harris states, “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.”
During the clip, CNN’s chyron displayed: “HARRIS CAMPAIGN’S MESSAGE ON ISRAEL-GAZA DEPENDS ON WHERE YOU LIVE.”
Burnett then remarked, “Well, it’s a very different story for an ad in Pennsylvania targeting Jewish voters.”
In the Pennsylvania ad, Harris says, “Let 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 7th.”
Burnett brought Kaczynski back to discuss the “historically different” ads, to which he commented:
Yeah, that’s right. And look, this 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 there. Oftentimes, these constituencies have very opposing views on this.
If you are a Jewish person in Pennsylvania, you saw that ad that you’re getting. You are getting that ad that talks about how strong, strong she is in Israel. If you’re a Muslim voter in Michigan, you are getting that ad on Facebook that’s talking about talking about how she won’t be silent on the issue of Gaza. Now, what’s really interesting here is that ad that we that we just played, the one that’s going to judge Jewish voters in Pennsylvania.
Kaczynski further explained that the Pennsylvania ad, which aired via the Democratic National Committee, had edited out comments Harris made about Palestinians.
CNN’s investigative reporter concluded, “So this is a really delicate issue for her.”
Meanwhile, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), a Palestinian-American member of the “Squad,” has declined to endorse Harris, encouraging other Muslims to do the same.
“Don’t underestimate the power you all have,” Tlaib told supporters at a United Auto Workers rally. “More than those ads, those lawn signs, those billboards, you all have more power to turn out people that understand we’ve got to fight back against corporate greed in our country.”
“We’ve got to make sure that the nonpartisan part of the ballot gets filled in,” she added.
At the same rally, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), another “Squad” member, did endorse Harris.
“This is the place where miracles happen,” she declared, “and this is the place that is going to deliver a Kamala Harris presidency, right here in the state of Michigan.”
She added, “I want to be from a place that is proud to get our hands dirty and to knock on a door and to fix our own cars and to make sure we know what it means to be an everyday person.”
“I love to be from a place where people don’t forget where they came from,” Ocasio-Cortez said.