Kamala Harris speaks out on situation in Gaza

By Guillermo Alvarado

The call by the Vice President of the United States, Kamala Harris, to declare an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, the first of its kind made by a high-ranking official of the U.S. government, which until today has been an unwavering supporter of Israel, attracted a great deal of attention.

The official went a step further and described what is happening to the Palestinian people as a humanitarian catastrophe and, although she refrained from directly condemning Israel, she did call for the entry of aid to alleviate the most urgent needs in that area.

"People in Gaza are starving, conditions are inhumane and our humanity compels us to act," said the vice president, adding that there is no excuse for Tel Aviv's refusal to do more to resolve the situation.

There are several reasons to explain this dissonance in the official U.S. discourse on the Israeli air and ground attacks, which are wiping off the map numerous Palestinian towns in the Strip.

One of them is that Washington was beginning to worry about the world's condemnation of its role as an accomplice, or rather a co-conspirator, in this genocide, which is being carried out with American weapons and technologies.

And it is not for a matter of conscience or anything like that, but for a practical reason. As I said in a recent commentary, Netanyahu is willing to drag Israel's international position down to satisfy his personal political ambitions and does not mind dragging his partners into the abyss.

The bill is already too heavy, especially after the mass murder of more than 100 Palestinians, men, women and children, gunned down as they searched for food to relieve hunger.

Whatever it does, the White House will not be able to avoid having its name associated with these barbarities when a tally is made of what is already the greatest crime perpetrated in the third millennium of our modern history.

What can be completely ruled out is that this is a personal initiative of Ms. Harris, so far, by the way, one of the most diffused officials in Joseph Biden's administration.

More powerful people than her have risked their political capital and personal and human prestige to follow the designs of the Oval Office, and lost it miserably, as happened to former Secretary of State and former US Army Chief of Staff Collin Powell.

So this is not an individual outburst, but a plan to save the furniture in the face of crimes against humanity, perpetrated by the power that pompously likes to call itself "the perfect democracy".