Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris's team has publicly denied suggestions she is open to an arms embargo on Israel, a day after progressive activists described the vice president as "open" to discussing restricting military aid to Israel.

In a statement from the Harris campaign, the US Vice President said she "has been clear: She will always work to ensure that Israel is able to defend itself against Iran and Iranian-backed terrorist groups."

Phil Gordon, Harris's national security adviser as vice president, issued an additional clarification Thursday morning, writing on the social media platform X that Harris "does not support an arms embargo on Israel."

The Harris team’s comments contradict a statement released on Wednesday by Laila al-Abed and Abbas Alawiya, founders of the “non-conformist” national movement, which has sought to push the Democratic Party to change its policies on Israel’s war on Gaza. Non-conformist activists said they spoke briefly with Harris and her vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz, and said Harris “expressed sympathy and openness to meeting with non-conformist leaders to discuss the arms embargo,” the leaders told Middle East Eye.

What followed shortly after that statement was issued was an incident in which pro-Palestinian activists confronted Harris during a campaign rally on Wednesday in Detroit, Michigan, an area with one of the largest concentrations of Arab Americans in the country.

Harris responded to the activists by silencing them and scolding them, saying, "You know what? If you want Donald Trump to win, say so, otherwise, I'm talking."

Despite her avoidance of the protesters, which has since spread on social media, many progressive voices have continued to defend the idea that Harris would be open to changing Democratic policy on Israel to appease pro-Palestinian voters.

On Thursday, the Uncommitted campaign, a movement primarily of Palestinian-American voters who pledged not to vote for President Joe Biden when he was the party’s nominee, issued a statement in response to Harris’s team’s comments opposing the gun ban.

Despite publicly asserting that Harris would maintain aid to Israel, the campaign has told supporters that Harris is willing to change course on Israel and Palestine.

“We found hope in Vice President Harris expressing her openness to meeting on the arms embargo, and we are eager to continue participating because people we love are being killed by American bombs,” the campaign, which now includes millions of voters who oppose the war on Gaza, said in a statement.

“It is clear to us that Vice President Harris can lead our country’s policy toward Gaza to a more humane place,” the group said in a statement published by Middle East Eye. “We hope she will meet with us so we can move forward to discuss the arms embargo.”

Independent media figures have alleged that segments of the progressive movement are creating a narrative that a Harris-Walz administration will be more susceptible to the demands of pro-Palestinian voters without any actual evidence.

“She didn’t say she was open to banning guns, she said she was open to meeting with them,” investigative journalist Zaid Gilani wrote on Substack. “Progressives continue to create a nonexistent Kamala Harris.”

Harris's Views on Gaza

US President Joe Biden dropped out of the race on July 21, and Harris was almost immediately nominated as his Democratic successor to face Republican challenger, former President Donald Trump.

For months, the Biden administration has been a target of pro-Palestinian and anti-war protesters because of the president’s full support for Israel’s war efforts in Gaza since the Hamas-led attacks on the Gaza envelope on October 7, which killed about 1,200, including 311 soldiers according to official Israeli reports, and the detention of more than 250 people who were taken to Gaza.

Israel has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians in its war on Gaza so far, most of them women and children, according to an official count from the Palestinian Ministry of Health. However, some experts have estimated the death toll at more than 180,000 Palestinians.

The Israeli occupation forces targeted Palestinian civilians as well as the Strip’s infrastructure, including schools, hospitals and UN shelters. The Israeli army also killed more than 160 Palestinian journalists.

Throughout the war, the Biden administration has maintained the same level of military support for Israel, providing munitions and weapons to aid the country’s operations in Gaza. Biden’s approach to the war is widely seen as unpopular among the Democratic voter base.

On the other hand, Kamala’s campaign has received a boost from progressives, especially after she picked Minnesota Governor Walz as her running mate. However, as Middle East Eye revealed on Wednesday, anti-war activists said that despite his appointment, Walz has yet to meet with Palestinian families from Minnesota who lost relatives in Gaza.

Harris has also been relatively quiet when it comes to revealing her actual policies and has yet to give a media interview since securing the nomination.

According to the Middle East website, Harris' views on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict are in line with the Democratic Party.

Harris and her confidants have repeatedly indicated that she will remain a strong supporter of Israel.

Harris’ husband, Doug Emhoff, who is Jewish-American, said during a Zoom call last month hosted by the Jewish Democratic Council of America and Jewish Women for Kamala, “Let me make this clear: The vice president has been and will continue to be a strong supporter of Israel as a safe, democratic, Jewish state, and will always ensure that Israel can defend itself, period. Because that’s Kamala Harris.”