In their historic first presidential debate as their parties' nominees, Vice President Kamala Harris and former US President Donald Trump sharply attacked each other on Tuesday over their positions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and Israel's war on Gaza.

Harris insisted that Israel has the right to self-defense but how it exercises that right is important, while Trump insisted that Israel would cease to exist if Harris became president of the United States.

“Let’s understand how we got here: On October 7, Hamas, a terrorist organization, slaughtered 1,200 Israelis, many of them young people attending a concert; women were horribly raped. So I said, of course, and I say now, that Israel has the right to defend itself. We will do that,” Harris said about an hour into the 95-minute debate, when asked by moderator David Muir of ABC News, which organized the debate, about how she would break the current stalemate in ceasefire negotiations.

“How this is done is important, because it is also true that a very large number of innocent Palestinians have been killed. Children, mothers. What we know is that this war has to end. It has to end immediately. And the way it will end is that we need a ceasefire, we need the release of the hostages, so we will continue to work around the clock on this work, around the clock, with the understanding that we have to chart a path to a two-state solution,” she added.

Harris continued that within the framework of this solution, "there must be security for the Israeli people and Israel, and equal standards for the Palestinians."

“But I will always assure you, I will always give Israel the ability to defend itself,” Harris repeated. “Particularly with respect to Iran, and any threat that Iran and its proxies pose to Israel, but we must have a two-state solution where we can rebuild Gaza, where Palestinians have the security and self-determination and dignity that they so richly deserve.”

Trump responded with his usual point of attack: "If I were president, I would never have started."

He said that Harris “hates Israel,” and that she “did not even meet Netanyahu when he went to Congress to give a very important speech (on July 24), and she refused to be there because she was at a party for her classmates when she was a student; she wanted to go to the party; she hates Israel.”

It is noteworthy that his deputy in the election campaign, Senator J.D. Vance, also missed Netanyahu's speech to participate in an election rally.

“If she (Harris) becomes president, I believe that Israel will not exist in two years from now,” Trump said. “I have been very good at making predictions that I hope I am wrong. She hates Israel. At the same time, she hates the Arab population, because the whole place will blow up. The Arabs, the Jewish people, Israel will be gone. What would have happened (the October 7 attack) if I had been president.”

Trump accused the Biden administration of enabling Iran, saying, “They were broke under Donald Trump. Now Iran has $300 billion because they lifted all the sanctions that they had. Iran had no money for Hamas or Hezbollah or any of the 28 different areas of terrorism, which are areas of terrorism, horrible terrorism. They had no money.”

“Iran was broke, now it’s a rich country, and they’re putting that money everywhere,” he repeated. “Look at what’s happening with the Houthis and Yemen. Look at what’s happening in the Middle East, this would never have happened (if he was president). I’m going to fix it quickly.”

Harris responded to Trump by accusing him of “absolutely untrue” for his claims that she hates Israel. “I have supported Israel and the Israeli people my entire career. He knows it. He is once again trying to divide and distract from the reality that Donald Trump is weak and wrong on national security and foreign policy.”

American Jewish voters overwhelmingly favor Harris over Trump, according to every poll since President Biden dropped out of the presidential race on July 21. The results come as Republican and Democratic Jewish organizations, as well as the Trump and Harris campaigns, have intensified their efforts in recent weeks to shore up support among American Jewish voters ahead of the November 5 election, especially in swing states.

The two presidential candidates, Donald Trump and his Democratic rival Kamala Harris, exchanged accusations of extremism and poor performance, in economic issues, most notably inflation, and other social issues, most notably abortion, during the debate.

Trump said that President Joe Biden's administration had practically acknowledged that his economic policy, when he was president, was correct, by maintaining the tariffs that his administration imposed on China.

Trump accused Harris and Biden of being responsible for inflation, and said that when he left the White House, America had a strong economy recovering from the consequences of the Covid-19 pandemic, warning against the extreme leftist positions that he said Harris adopts. He said that she (Harris) believes in Marxism.

In turn, Harris strongly attacked Trump on the abortion file, describing him as a "convicted criminal" and responsible for the riots in Washington on January 6, 2021, and before that in Charlottesville, Virginia, in August 2017.

The debate saw heated debate over immigration policies, crime control and foreign policy.