The Republican Jewish Coalition on Wednesday slammed Vice President and presumptive Democratic nominee Kamala Harris in a five-figure ad for "snubbing Israel" by refusing to attend Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address to Congress Wednesday afternoon.
"Instead of supporting America’s strongest ally by attending Prime Minister Netanyahu's speech to Congress, Kamala Harris decides to go to a sorority luncheon," the Jewish group said in the ad, which will run in key battleground states, referring to the vice president’s decision to give a speech at a sorority event in Indiana rather than preside over the Israeli leader’s closely watched address before Congress.
"A sorority luncheon? She can’t be serious," the ad continued. "Kamala Harris—her priorities are not our priorities."
Harris became the Democratic front-runner for the presidency following President Joe Biden’s withdrawal on Sunday and is set to face Republican nominee Donald Trump, who secured his party’s nomination at the Republican National Convention last week.
"Harris has totally failed her first test as a candidate for President of the United States," RJC CEO Matt Brooks said in a statement, "and the RJC will hold her accountable."
The RJC also took aim at Harris’s failure as vice president to condemn anti-Semitic incidents nationwide, with the Wednesday ad saying, "Jewish Americans were rightly concerned when Kamala Harris sided with the pro-Hamas demonstrators shouting anti-Semitic and anti-Israel slogans, disrupting our campuses, and harassing Jewish students."
"Kamala Harris's priorities are not the Jewish community's priorities," Brooks said. "If you thought Joe Biden was bad, Kamala Harris is far worse on issues of top concern for pro-Israel voters."
House speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.), who had orchestrated the invitation for Netanyahu to speak in front of Congress, on Tuesday called Harris’s absence "inexcusable," adding that "she will not be there because she refuses to attend" and that "she needs to be held accountable for that."