Harris had a contingency plan for campus protests over Israel

Former aides to Kamala Harris’ 2020 presidential campaign are collecting signatures for a letter urging the vice president to “seek an immediate ceasefire” between Israel and Hamas, and calling Israel’s Gaza campaign a “genocide.”

The draft letter, which was obtained by POLITICO, amounts to an attempt to dial up pressure on one of the Biden administration’s most familiar faces. It encourages the vice president to support a ceasefire resolution introduced by Rep. Cori Bush as well as “independent investigations of human rights violations in Gaza.”

Harris’ office did not comment on the signature gathering effort, but two supporters who worked for her in the past dismissed it as an unhelpful stunt that unfairly targets her. A POLITICO request to talk to the organizers of the effort was passed along through an intermediary but they did not respond to it. As of Monday evening, the vice president’s office had not received any letter.

“We must mourn the tragic loss of Israeli life targeted by Hamas,” the draft letter reads, “however, we must firmly and unequivocally reject the Israeli government’s exploitation of these deaths to stage a retaliatory and genocidal campaign against civilians.”

The letter’s existence, even in draft form, illustrates the degree to which the conflict in Gaza has become a political tinderbox, pitting traditional Democratic constituencies against facets of the party’s elected leadership. It’s a dynamic that could impact future plans Harris has as she, as part of the Biden reelect, tries to reach disaffected younger voters. It’s already affected current operations.

The vice president was deep into a weeks-long tour of college campuses designed to generate support for the Biden-Harris record and presidential ticket when Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7. Her office subsequently developed a plan for the possibility that her subsequent appearances could be disrupted by a protest, according to her staff.

Specific details of the plan were not divulged but an aide said Harris did not consider canceling her remaining events even as college campuses became a primary staging ground for demonstrations against the Israeli government and the administration’s support of prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Ultimately, Harris’ college tour skirted any type of major disruption that aides felt the need to prepare for. The closest they came occurred during her last stop at Northern Arizona University, where students at her event demanded she address the issue of rising civilian casualty counts.

“I believe that Israelis and Palestinians both deserve peace, deserve self-determination, and deserve safety … It is important to recognize also the distinction between a terrorist organization Hamas and the Palestinian people and civilians and they should not be conflated,” Harris said.

Harris’ response “caused a few seconds of strong emotions from the crowd,” according to a local write up of the event, with one audience member shouting: “Stop talking, do something.”

Harris has largely echoed President Joe Biden’s response to the attacks on Israel. In a “60 Minutes” interview that aired Sunday, she said she’s spoken with President Isaac Herzog of Israel since the Hamas attack and has joined Biden on calls with Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Asked whether the regional conflict could draw in U.S. troops, Harris said, “We have absolutely no intention nor do we have any plans to send combat troops into Israel or Gaza, period.”

Still, the fighting in Gaza and Israel — and the administration’s approach to it — has inflamed progressives, who have demanded that Biden and fellow Democrats take a tougher line. The letter being drafted by Harris campaign alums mirrors similar efforts from former campaign officials targeting the likes of Sen. Elizabeth Warren.

“We remain in grief, deeply affected by the impact of the brutal Hamas attack on Israeli civilians on October 7th, and are grateful for your leadership in seeking the safe return of hostages,” the draft letter from Harris campaign alums begins. “That said, we greatly mourn the growing number of innocent Palestinians killed by indiscriminate Israeli attacks in acts of collective punishment over the last two weeks. As the humanitarian crisis in Gaza rapidly deteriorates, it is indisputably clear that this is not a campaign of Israeli national defense.”

Two people supportive of the vice president, who were granted anonymity so as not to inflame tensions with their former colleagues, pushed back strongly against the effort, arguing it was both the wrong type of approach and doomed for failure given that Harris is unable to break publicly with the administration’s stance.

“If you care about affecting policy, the best way to do that is to run for office yourself instead of putting the vice president in a difficult position to just get a story out of it,” said one Harris 2020 alum who opposes sending her the letter.

Eugene Daniels contributed to this report.