Time is running out for Kamala Harris to break with Biden on the Gaza catastrophe | Moira Donegan

Biden's approach to Israel has been disastrous, both morally and strategically - and it could cost Harris dearly

In an appearance this week on the daytime talkshow The View, Kamala Harris was asked how her presidency would differ from Joe Biden's. There is not a thing that comes to mind," she said. The comment was seized on by the Trump campaign, who have used it in an attempt to seize upon Biden's unpopularity and blame Harris for the issues that seem to most enrage and terrify their supporters, among them high consumer prices and immigration. But the comment also rankled some members of Harris's own base: namely, the young, progressive and non-white voters who have been distraught over the suffering inflicted by Israel in its US-backed war on Gaza.

If Harris can't think of any way she would differ from Biden, these voters may have some suggestions for her. The Biden approach to Israel, after all, has been disastrous on multiple fronts. It has been a moral catastrophe, with Israel's wildly disproportionate campaign of indiscriminate slaughter in Gaza leading to famine, plague and tens of thousands of deaths. It has been an electoral liability, alienating Muslim and Arab American voters in the crucial swing state of Michigan and depressing turnout among the young voters whom Democrats have long relied on and which were a crucial part of Biden's 2020 victory.

Moira Donegan is a Guardian US columnist