Another awkward moment for the Biden administration unfolded Monday but this time it was thanks to Vice President Kamala Harris.
The gaffes and cringe roll out almost daily from President Joe Biden but it was his VP who delivered on the campaign trail in Detroit, Michigan on Monday as she emerged from a restaurant with a bag of food.
On her Economic Opportunity Tour, Harris made a stop at Joe Louis Southern Kitchen, a black-owned eatery serving items such as barbeque Cajun smoked turkey and Creole shrimp and grits.
Vice President Kamala Harris’ first stop for the Economic Opportunity Tour in Detroit, Michigan, was Joe Lewis Southern Kitchen, a Black-owned restaurant that will soon be celebrating three years. pic.twitter.com/vuGti9c9Ot
— Nehemiah D. Frank (@nehemiahdfrank) May 6, 2024
When Harris came out holding a bag of takeout food, reporters let fly their questions. But asking the vice president about the details of a ceasefire agreement by the Hamas terrorists in Gaza yielded an unexpected answer.
“Madam Vice President, Hamas says it accepted a ceasefire deal. Your reaction?” a reporter asked.
“Shrimp and grits. You wanted to know? Shrimp and grits,” Haris replied before the question was even finished. She then jumped into a waiting vehicle.
Kamala Harris going shopping. Of course. pic.twitter.com/zinJC3gqsV
— Mic-Ha-El (@marineo341) May 7, 2024
After days of talks negotiated by Qatar and Egypt, Israel rejected a new ceasefire deal that Hamas said it had agreed to.
“The announcement from Hamas sparked premature celebrations in Rafah yesterday as war-weary Palestinians took to the streets rejoicing news of a ceasefire deal,” Daily Mail reported. “But Tel Aviv later dismissed the ceasefire, describing it as a ‘softened’ version of an Egyptian proposal, which included ‘far-reaching’ conclusions that Israel could not accept.”
“Hamas fighters near the Rafah crossing on Sunday fired mortars into southern Israel, killing four Israeli soldiers near the Kerem Shalom crossing close to an Israeli kibbutz of the same name,” according to the outlet.
Israel: Here are the terms of our proposed ceasefire.
Hamas: No. We will fire rockets at your soldiers at a humanitarian aid entry.
Israel: Okay, we’re going into Rafah.
Hamas: We accept a ceasefire we negotiated with ourselves.
Media: Hamas accepts ceasefire! They want peace!— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) May 6, 2024
Israel’s 401st Brigade took “operational control” of the Gaza Strip side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, with officials saying they had “eliminated approximately 20 terrorists.”
An anonymous Israeli official said of the ceasefire proposal: “This would appear to be a ruse intended to make Israel look like the side refusing a deal.”
According to Daily Mail:
Hamas said in a brief statement yesterday that its political leader Ismail Haniyeh had informed Egyptian and Qatari officials of his acceptance of the terms.
The ceasefire deal Hamas said it agreed to is a three-phased agreement, and each is 42 days long, the group’s deputy chief in Gaza told Al Jazeera on Monday.
Hamas deputy Khalil Al-Hayya also said the second stage of the agreement stipulates a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
But in rejecting the terms, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the ceasefire agreement was “far from Israel’s basic requirements.”
“The war cabinet has unanimously decided that Israel is continuing the operation in Rafah to exert military pressure on Hamas in order to advance the release of our hostages and the other objectives of the war,” read a statement from Netanyahu’s office.
“We will be discussing this response with our partners in the coming hours. We continue to believe a hostage deal is in the best interests of the Israeli people and Palestinian people,” US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.
