The looming war that could define a Harris presidency

Kamala Harris has had a front-row seat as the Gaza conflict has played out - but with tension rising further in the Middle East, an all-out war could interfere with her presidential plans. Richard Hall, Bel Trew and Andrew Feinberg report

- Richard Hall, Bel Trew, Andrew Feinberg

As Kamala Harris sat alongside Joe Biden in the Situation Room on Monday evening, she may have felt some trepidation. The president and vice-president were about to be briefed – for hours – on the threat of regional war between Israel and Iran.

Harris was now advising as vice-president on a war she may soon have to take on as president.

Israel’s assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in July, at a crucial moment in a months-long White House effort to reach a ceasefire deal, has brought the Middle East to the brink of war. It has also, importantly, brought US-Israel relations to breaking point. Harris has been in the room as the Gaza war has spread over the past 10 months. As the White House now prepares for an Iranian response that would inevitably draw in US forces sent to the region to protect Israel, she has retained that front-row seat.

She was on the call when Biden reportedly erupted in fury at Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the assassination of Haniyeh, which sparked this latest round of fighting and likely collapsed a ceasefire deal with Hamas in Gaza. “Stop bullshitting me,” Biden reportedly told the Israeli prime minister last Thursday, frustrated over Netanyahu’s unwillingness to agree to a ceasefire. “Don’t take the president for granted,” he added.

Biden finally losing his patience after months of seemingly being strung along by Netanyahu is a moment that may define USIsrael relations for years to come. And Harris’s proximity to the fallout should give her the opportunity to avoid repeating Biden’s mistakes.