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Kamala Harris on whether Israel’s Netanyahu is a close U.S. ally
One year after Hamas launched a deadly cross-border attack into Israel on Oct. 7, Vice President Kamala Harris reiterated her call for the war to end as the death toll climbs.
The Biden-Harris administration has pushed for a cease-fire, but the White House’s relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been tested as he charts his own course — sometimes against the urging of the president and vice president.
“We’re not going to stop pursuing what is necessary for the United States to be clear about where we stand on the need for this war to end,” Harris said.
She maintained that Israel, which is still working to recover hostages taken into Gaza, has a right to defend itself, but said that “far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed.”
While the bulk of Israel’s focus has been on Hamas in Gaza, Israel in late September began increasingly targeting the operations of the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon. For months, the group has been firing rockets into Israel from southern Lebanon. Now Israel is responding with airstrikes and, what it calls a limited ground operation into Lebanon, fueling fears of a broader war in the Middle East.
President Biden has called for a cease-fire in Lebanon, raising more questions about the relationship between Mr. Biden and Netanyahu.
“I think, with all due respect, the better question is, do we have an important alliance between the American people and the Israeli people,” Harris said. “And the answer to that question is yes.”
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One person died and several others were injured Thursday when a chemical was released at a Houston-area industrial plant, a Texas sheriff said.
Authorities warned nearby residents to stay inside and close doors and windows.
One of the people injured was transported to a hospital by a helicopter, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez wrote on the social platform X. City officials in Pasadena, a Houston suburb, told residents on social media that hydrogen sulfide had been released at a Pemex facility.
Television news crews showed multiple ambulances and emergency vehicles at the scene.
Gonzalez said preliminary information indicated it was a “chemical release” but did not elaborate.
In a statement obtained by CBS affiliate KHOU, Pemex said that the release was first reported at 4:40 p.m. local time at one of its “operating units.”
“The incident is contained to our site and has been isolated,” the statement read. The company added that personnel from several government agencies had responded.
The plant is located in the suburb of Deer Park, where city officials issued a shelter-in-place order for nearby residents “out of precaution.”
In a post to social media late Thursday night, the Deer Park Office of Emergency Management said that the shelter-in-place order had been lifted. It said that Harris County agencies were “reporting no hazardous chemicals within the community.”
Houston is the nation’s petrochemical heartland and is home to a cluster of refineries and plants.
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