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Vice President Harris’ stepdaughter is fundraising for Gaza

Republican congressman Jeff Van Drew calls post ‘abhorrent’ since Hamas is ‘certain’ to get hold of any money that arrives. 

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris’ stepdaughter has put an appeal for contributions to Gaza on her social media page, The New York Post reported Saturday.

The Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund campaign that 24-year-old Ella Emhoff is promoting to her 315,000 followers on Instagram asks for help “supporting urgent relief for Gaza’s children.”

Ms. Emhoff does not say if she herself made a donation. The fund had already raised $7.7 million of its $10 million goal when she posted the solicitation.

Emhoff has made no public comments about the plight of the roughly 30 Israeli children who were kidnapped by Hamas terrorists when they invaded Israeli communities on October 7th.

Nor does she refer to the minors and the infants who were among over one thousand civilians massacred by the Gaza terrorists in their surprise attack, some burned alive, others decapitated.

A Republican lawmaker lambasted Emhoff for the fundraising post, since he said it was “certain” that the funds would end up going to Hamas, the terrorist organization which rules the Gaza Strip, as has happened with aid to Gaza in the past.

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“It is of tremendous concern and I find it abhorrent,” said Jeff Van Drew (R-NJ), who is on the House Homeland Security Committee. “To be honest with you, I am kind of stunned by it. It is disturbing to the maximum degree.”

The self-styled textile artist and model does not identify as Jewish, and has publicly stated so through her spokesman, Joseph Viola.

Two years ago, Viola told the Forward, a Jewish news site, that while her father started “celebrating Judaism” a few years ago, Emhoff herself was living independently already and did not identify with her father’s religion.

“It’s not something she grew up with,” he told the outlet. “Ella truly has no qualms with the faith, but she does not want to speak on behalf of Judaism, as she does not celebrate herself.”

Doug Emhoff and his ex-wife, film producer Kerstin (Mackin) Emhoff, divorced in 2008, when Ella was a young girl. Kamala Harris married Doug Emhoff six years later.

Stepdaughter and stepmother get along very well, with Harris congratulating “our daughter Ella” when she graduated Parsons School of Design in May 2021.

“I am so proud of you. Keep dreaming with ambition and there is nothing you cannot achieve,” she posted on Twitter, ending with, “Love, Momala.”