Top State Department Official Resigns in Protest of Biden’s “Blind Support” of Israel
A senior State Department official resigned this week over what he described as the Biden administration’s “blind support” for Israel in its ongoing siege of Gaza. Josh Paul, after more than 11 years working in the State Department office that oversees arms transfers, wrote Wednesday in a public letter explaining his resignation that he could no longer stomach Washington’s continued funneling of arms to Israel. “The response Israel is taking, and with it the American support both for that response, and for the status quo of the occupation,” he wrote, “will only lead to more and deeper suffering for both the Israeli and the Palestinian people.”
While Paul described Hamas’s recent attack in Israel as “a monstrosity of monstrosities,” in an interview with The New York Times, he argued that Israel is committing its own human rights abuses by continuously bombing the Gaza Strip and blocking medical provisions, food, water, and electricity from entering the territory where more than 2 million live. The official also appeared to juxtapose White House support for Israel with US aid to Ukraine, writing, “We cannot be both against occupation, and for it. We cannot be both for freedom, and against it.” In his interview with the Times, he added that Israel—which has killed more than 3,700 Gazans since Hamas’s October 7 attack, per the Gaza Health Ministry—is creating a new generation of enemies: “What it leads to is this desire to sort of impose security at any cost, including in cost to the Palestinian civilian population.”
Since resigning, Paul said he has received considerable support from State Department colleagues and congressional staffers. “A lot of people are wrestling with this being the current policy and are finding it to be deeply problematic,” he told the Times. “I’ve really been quite moved by some of the folks who have reached out to say that they understand where I’m coming from. They respect my decision. It’s been very supportive.” His resignation was first reported by HuffPost.
The White House and Congress have faced considerable domestic pushback over their support of Israel, as the past two weeks have seen thousands of Americans take part in pro-Palestinian rallies across the country. On Wednesday, hundreds of protesters were arrested at the US Capitol building after staging a sit-in to protest the Israeli bombing campaign of Gaza. The demonstration was organized by a progressive Jewish group demanding a cease-fire. “We shut down Congress to draw mass attention to the US complicity in Israel’s ongoing oppression of Palestinians,” Jewish Voice for Peace wrote in an X post claiming 10,000 people were involved in the demonstration.
As for Joe Biden, he has shown Israel unequivocal support since the unprecedented Hamas attack that Israeli officials say resulted in at least 1,400 deaths and more than 200 abductions. His administration is expected to ask Congress for a funding package that would reportedly provide $10 billion in mostly military aid to Israel. However, during a speech in Tel Aviv Wednesday, the president promised $100 million in humanitarian aid to Gaza and the West Bank and urged Israelis against succumbing to an “all-consuming rage.”
“What sets us apart from the terrorists is we believe in the fundamental dignity of every human life—Israeli, Palestinian, Arab, Jew, Muslim, Christian—everyone,” he said. “You can’t give up what makes you who you are. If you give that up, then the terrorists win.”
0 Comments
Yorum ekle