President Biden did not attend the COP28 UN Climate Summit in Dubai, but Vice President Kamala Harris did, and she was far more assertive than on her other trips abroad. The main item on her jammed agenda was to put forth the U.S. position on climate change, particularly the concern that the planet faces a 1.5-degree Celius increase if the fossil fuel emissions are not curbed. But there were other pressing matters to deal with, none more urgent than the resumed conflict in Israel/Palestine.
Harris’s speech at the summit was almost as brief as her appearance, because she had other meetings to attend, and other leaders to confer with on Middle East issues. Among those she spoke with were King Abdullah II of Jordan, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan of the United Arab Emirates, and President Isaac Herzog of Israel.
“The United States has turned ambition into action. Today we are demonstrating through action how the world can and must meet this crisis,” Harris said. There was a quick remark about the looming possibility of Trump returning to the White House and then back to the climate: “The clock is no longer ticking; it’s banging. And we must make up for lost time and we cannot afford to be incremental.”
Another clock is ticking, and that’s the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, with the Israel Defense Fund (IDF) focusing its bombardment on the southern portion of the territory, after alerting people to retreat there. “We all want this conflict to end as soon as possible, and to ensure Israel’s security and ensure security for the Palestinian people,” Harris said. “We must accelerate efforts to build an enduring peace, and that begins with planning for what happens the day after the fighting ends.”
To date, more than 15,000 Palestinians have been killed and 1,200 Israelis since the conflict began after the Hamas attack on October 7. More than 200 Palestinian deaths have been reported since resumption of the war after a brief cease-fire to allow the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian detainees.