Apologies campaign by Harris’ team to Zionist lobby following GMU visit

Washington (QNN)- Kamala Harris’ team began reaching out to the heads of several Zionist organizations after those leaders reached out to the White House to express their concerns over Harris’ visit to George Mason University (GMU), the CNN cited two people with direct knowledge of the conversations said.
Harris’ deputy national security adviser Phil Gordon and Herbie Ziskend, the vice president’s deputy communications director, led the outreach, making clear that Harris’s silence during a question by a student about the US administration’s position regarding atrocities committed by the occupation state of ‘Israel’ and Saudi Arabia, did not equate agreement with the students’ criticism against ‘Israel’ that it commits ethnic genocide.
“There’s a recognition that the impression left by her failure to correct the student is problematic and does not reflect her commitment to a strong US-Israel relationship, nor that of the President and the Administration,” William Daroff, the CEO of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, told CNN.
Harris’ team reached out to the heads of at least three Zionist organizations: the Democratic Majority for Israel, the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations and the Anti-Defamation League.
“This was touching base with her friends and allies and supporters who know that she’s very strong in her commitment to defending Israel and defending Israel security,” the source familiar with Harris’ added.
In a statement, Harris’ spokeswoman Symone Sanders said, “The vice president strongly disagrees with the student’s characterization of Israel.”
“Throughout her career, the Vice President has been unwavering in her commitment to Israel and to Israel’s security”, Sanders added.
An additional source familiar with Harris’ office’s outreach told CNN that her team distributed facts on her record on the occupation state in her defense to allies, emphasizing her unwavering commitment to ‘Israel’.
“We know Vice President Harris and we know her record on Israel has been consistent and unwavering. At no time did we doubt her support of Israel. We wanted additional context to understand what occurred,” Halie Soifer, CEO of Jewish Democratic Council of America and former national security adviser to Harris in her Senate office, told CNN.
Harris office was in touch with Soifer’s group as well others. The CEO of the Anti-Defamation League on Thursday said he had spoken with Harris’ office after the vice president’s interaction.
“Just spoke with @VP office. Glad to hear her confirm she is proud of her record supporting #Israel, and knows claim it is committing ‘ethnic genocide’ is patently false,” Jonathan Greenblatt tweeted Thursday. “Looking fwd to a clearing of the record so there’s no ambiguity that what that student said was hateful/wrong.”
Mark Mellman, President of the influential Democratic Majority for Israel, said Thursday he had also spoken with Harris’ senior staff.
“We were pleased Vice President Harris’s senior staff reached out to us today to confirm what we already knew: Her ‘commitment to Israel’s security is unwavering,’ and she ‘strongly disagrees with the George Mason student’s characterization of Israel,'” Mellman wrote in a statement. “The Biden-Harris Administration, as well as President Biden and Vice President Harris personally, have exemplary pro-Israel records, for which we are immensely grateful.”
During a visit to GMU on Tuesday, the US Vice President expressed support for a college student who criticized the occupation state of ‘Israel’ over ethnic genocide against the Palestinian people.
As Harris took questions after speaking, one of the female students voiced her concerns about US financial and military support for ‘Israel’ and Saudi Arabia.
“You brought up how the power of the people and demonstrations and organizing is very valuable in America” the woman told Harris. “But I see that over the summer, there have been, like, protests and demonstrations in astronomical numbers standing with Palestine, but then just a few days ago there were funds allocated to continue backing Israel, which hurts my heart because it’s an ethnic genocide and a displacement of people — the same that happened in America — and I’m sure you’re aware of this.”