Vice President Kamala Harris on Thursday was forced to more directly confront the violence in the Middle East, which has sharply divided her party and threatens her standing with voters in key battleground states.

Since becoming the Democratic nominee, Ms. Harris has sought to walk the same tightrope as President Biden by balancing support for Israel while trying not to offend pro-Palestinian progressives. 

But on Thursday the escalating violence in the Middle East caught up with Ms. Harris on the campaign trail in Wisconsin, where she was met by a large group of anti-Israel protesters. At the same time, the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, believed to be the mastermind of the Oct. 7 terror attack in Israel, pushed her to take a more strident stand in support of the Jewish state. 

---

---

Declaring that “justice has been served,” Ms. Harris said that Sinwar’s death creates an opportunity to end the war in Gaza. 

“It is time for the day to begin without Hamas in power, we will not give up on these goals,” Ms. Harris said. 

It was the largest embrace of Israel that Ms. Harris has expressed, after largely following Mr. Biden’s lead of publicly backing Israel while privately hectoring Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to end its invasion.

Ms. Harris was scheduled to speak with the press before what her campaign described as a “meet and greet” with students at the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, one of three campaign events she had in the swing state. Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban accompanied her to the event. 

However, moments before she was supposed to take questions from reporters, Ms. Harris abruptly canceled it. Instead, she opted to give the scripted statement about Sinwar’s death and bolted from the podium once she was done. She did not answer reporters’ questions about whether she would directly call on Israel to end its campaign in Gaza. 

Ms. Harris was also confronted by throngs of protesters, marching near the UWM building where she met students. Protesters chanted “Free Palestine!” and “Shame!” With bullhorns. Several screamed that UWM had “blood on its hands” for inviting Ms. Harris to campus. 

Others carried signs with slogans including “VP Harris we charge you with genocide,” “Bombing kids is not self-defense” and “Killer Kamala.”

In a tight election, Ms. Harris had hoped the ongoing violence in the Middle East would simmer below the surface, but Thursday’s events showed it remains a salient issue among voters and on college campuses. 

Ms. Harris has repeatedly dodged questions about the Middle East conflict. During her “60 Minutes” interview she sidestepped questions about whether Mr. Netanyahu is a U.S. ally and whether Mr. Biden had lost leverage over the Israeli prime minister. 

And last week, protesters tried to down out her remarks for the Oct. 7 anniversary as she stood alongside her husband, Doug Emhoff, who is Jewish.

Still, she has not bowed to political pressure and distanced herself from Mr. Biden’s embrace of Israel and icy support of Mr. Netanyahu. That’s unlikely to appease young progressives and Arab Americans, especially in swing states such as Michigan.

In late August, Ms. Harris had nearly a 4-point lead over former President Donald Trump in Wisconsin, but that has evaporated. The race is now a dead heat in the battleground state. A similar fate has befallen her in Michigan, where she went from a 4-point lead to a tie.

Voters in those swing states have not been shy about expressing their frustration over the war in Gaza at the ballot box. During the Wisconsin primary, when Mr. Biden was on the ballot, more than 47,000 individuals voted “uncommitted.” That accounts for more than 8% of the Democratic primary vote in the state.

In Michigan, part of the so-called “Blue Wall” with Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, more than 100,000 votes were cast for “uncommitted” during the Democratic Party. 

Mr. Biden won Michigan by 154,000 votes in 2020, but the state has more than 242,000 Muslim voters, according to the U.S. Religion Census, possibly narrowing Ms. Harris’ path to victory.

The uncommitted movement, which grew out of Democratic opposition to Mr. Biden’s handling of the war, said last month it would not endorse Ms. Harris, but urged supporters to “vote against” Mr. Trump and “avoid” third-party candidates.