Government staff who resigned over US policy on Israel-Gaza war speak out

A wounded Palestinian girl is brought to Al Awda Hospital in Gaza after the Israeli bombardment of an UNRWA-run school-turned-shelter. AFP

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As Gaza endured one of its deadliest weeks since the war began, several former officials and staff who resigned in protest against US policy on the conflict discussed the factors that prompted their decision.

“There is widespread dissent within the administration, across all agencies, across rank, seniority,” said Lily Greenberg Call, who resigned from the Department of Interior. She was the first Jewish-American Biden appointee to resign over Gaza.

“I want people to know that they are the majority, that they are not alone, that there is undoubtedly colleagues of theirs that maybe share their distress and frustration and feelings of desperation. We want people to remember that they have power.”

The panel discussion on Wednesday, organised by Democracy for the Arab World Now, included other former government employees, including Josh Paul, the first State Department employee to resign over Gaza, and Annelle Sheline, who worked for the department's humanitarian bureau.

In February, humanitarian organisations accused Israel of deliberately blocking aid to Gaza. UN experts have accused Israel of a “targeted starvation campaign” in the enclave, and the world body has warned of famine due to food insecurity.

Local health authorities say that more than 38,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war, which began after the Hamas-led assaults in southern Israel that killed 1,200 people on October 7.

Stacy Gilbert spent more than 20 years at the State Department before resigning from her position as a senior civil-military adviser for the Bureau of Population.

She was one of the signatories of a joint letter earlier this month that called President Joe Biden administration's policy in Gaza a failure and threat to national security.

For Ms Gilbert, the red line that pushed her to leave was the State Department report sent to Congress on May 10 that stated it was reasonable to believe that Israel had broken international law in Gaza, but that “provision of defence articles” to the country can continue.

The report also said Israel was not blocking humanitarian assistance to Gaza.

“I was shocked to see it in very stark terms that we determined that Israel is not blocking humanitarian assistance,” Ms Gilbert said.

“That was not the consensus of humanitarian subject matter experts in the US government or around the world.

“So to see that written in a joint report to Congress, a fact that was so obviously demonstrably false was shocking to me.”

The Biden administration has faced heavy backlash for supplying Israel with weapons during the war and supporting its military financially.

The US gives Israel more than $3 billion in foreign assistance annually, and in January, a Senate aid package included $26 billion for Israel.

Tariq Habash, who resigned from his position as a political appointee and policy adviser in the Department of Education's Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development, stressed the importance of consistency when it comes to human rights and humanitarian assistance.

“The US and the administration has even prior to October 7 gone to great lengths not to have consistent application of US laws toward Israel,” said Mr Habash, who is Palestinian American.

He recommended increasing and expanding humanitarian aid to Gaza.

“So long as there is an impediment to humanitarian aid reaching extremely vulnerable Palestinians living in Gaza, we are going to continue to see the increasing deterioration of the circumstances,” he explained.

Mr Habash added that pushing and prioritising humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in Gaza must be a priority, in addition to investing in the reconstruction of Gaza.

“The reality is it is our weapons that are causing the destruction primarily and so we must be leaders in that reconstruction to ensure it does not take generations to rebuild Gaza.”