Harris skirts question on whether Israel’s Netanyahu is ‘close ally’ of US

US Vice President Kamala Harris has skirted a question on whether Benjamin Netanyahu can be considered a “close ally” of the United States, as critics accuse the Israeli prime minister of stymying Washington’s stated goal of de-escalation in the Middle East. 

In an excerpt of an interview with CBS News’s 60 Minutes, which was released on Sunday, Harris was pressed on what the US is doing to get its top ally to end its military offensive in the Gaza Strip and stop its attacks on Lebanon. 

Harris, the Democratic candidate in November’s presidential election, said the US has been applying pressure on Israel – as well as on Arab leaders in the region – to reach a Gaza ceasefire deal and would continue to do so. 

“The work that we have done has resulted in a number of movements in that region by Israel,” she said, without providing details. 

Harris was then asked if the United States had a “real, close ally” in Netanyahu. 

 think, with all due respect, the better question is, do we have an important alliance between the American people and the Israeli people? And the answer to that question is ‘yes’,” she replied.