Where Kamala Harris VP Pick Tim Walz Stands on Israel

US Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris’s decision to tap Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) as her vice-presidential running mate has sent allies of Israel to search for clues about Walz’s views on the Jewish state and the Middle East more broadly.

A review of Walz’s record during his tenure in the US Congress and as a governor shows a general trend of support for Israel. Walz has issued statements supporting Israel’s right to self-defense and affirming the importance of the Jewish state’s existence. However, the Democratic vice-presidential nominee has also raised eyebrows by earning the praise of ardent anti-Israel lawmakers and criticizing the Israeli military’s ongoing campaign targeting Hamas terrorists in Gaza.

While serving in Congress from 2007 to 2019, Walz repeatedly exhibited support for Israel. As a lawmaker he voted to condemn a 2017 United Nations resolution that proclaimed West Bank settlements to be illegal. 

Walz attended a 2010 conference for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), a prominent pro-Israel lobbying group in the US, in which he called the Jewish state “our truest and closest ally in the region [the Middle East], with a commitment to values of personal freedoms and liberties, surrounded by a pretty tough neighborhood.”

The Minnesota governor criticized anti-Israel protests which broke out on college campuses in the wake of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas slaughtering 1,200 people in southern Israel on Oct. 7. Walz defended Jewish college students and suggested that anti-Israel activists could be engaging in “intimidation.”

“I think when Jewish students are telling us they feel unsafe in that, we need to believe them, and I do believe them,” Walz said on PBS. “Creating a space where political dissent or political rallying can happen is one thing. Intimidation is another.”

Walz also ordered all state flags across Minnesota to be flown at half mast to honor the victims of the Hamas Oct. 7 terrorist attacks. 

In June, Walz emphatically defended the importance of Israel’s existence, insisting that “the ability of Jewish people to self-determine themselves is foundational … The failure to recognize the state of Israel is taking away that self-determination. So it is antisemitic.”

However, Walz’s support for the Jewish state is not absolute. The progressive policymaker has suggested that Israeli policy hampers sustainable peace in the Middle East and has also criticized Israel’s defensive military operations in the Gaza Strip targeting Hamas terrorists.

During a 2009 diplomatic tour throughout the Middle East, Walz criticized Israeli settlements in the West Bank, arguing that they inflame tensions between Jews and Palestinians. 

In March, the Minnesota governor called for a permanent “working ceasefire” between Israel and Hamas, citing the need for humanitarian aid in Gaza.

That same month, during an interview with Minnesota Public Radio Walz expressed concern about the level of civilian casualties in the Palestinian enclave.

“You can hold competing things: That Israel has the right to defend itself, and the atrocities of October 7 are unacceptable, but Palestinian civilians being caught in this … has got to end,” he said.

Israel says it has gone to unprecedented lengths to try and avoid civilian casualties, noting its efforts to evacuate areas before it targets them and to warn residents of impending military operations with leaflets, text messages, and other forms of communication. However, Hamas, which rules Gaza, has in many cases prevented people from leaving, according to the Israeli military

Another challenge for Israel is Hamas’ widely recognized military strategy of embedding its terrorists within Gaza’s civilian population and commandeering civilian facilities like hospitals, schools, and mosques to run operations and direct attacks.

Harris’s selection of Walz has earned the praise of pro-Israel Democrats, including Mark Mellman, the chairman of Democratic Majority for Israel’s super PAC, who in a statement called the governor a “proud pro-Israel Democrat with a strong record of supporting the US-Israel relationship.”

However, far-left progressives fiercely critical of Israel have also applauded the selection of Walz, who has taken a conciliatory approach toward the anti-Israel protest movement. For example, Walz praised voters who cast “uncommitted” ballots in Minnesota’s presidential primary to protest US President Joe Biden’s support for Israel as being “civically engaged.”

“This issue is a humanitarian crisis; they have every right to be heard,” Walz said at the time, referring to the situation in Gaza. “These folks are asking for a change in course; they’re asking for more pressure to be put on.”

Several of the most prominent anti-Israel members in Congress celebrated the selection of Walz, although they primarily focused in their public comments on his progressive domestic policy agenda rather than his views on the Jewish state.

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