US Officials Who Have Resigned in Protest over Biden’s Gaza Policy

Destroyed buildings seen as the Israeli army issues an evacuation order, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 02 July 2024.  (EPA)
Destroyed buildings seen as the Israeli army issues an evacuation order, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 02 July 2024. (EPA)
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US Officials Who Have Resigned in Protest over Biden’s Gaza Policy

Destroyed buildings seen as the Israeli army issues an evacuation order, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 02 July 2024.  (EPA)
Destroyed buildings seen as the Israeli army issues an evacuation order, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, 02 July 2024. (EPA)

President Joe Biden's support for Israel during its nearly nine-month war in Gaza has spurred a dozen US administration officials to quit, with some accusing him of turning a blind eye to Israeli atrocities in the Palestinian enclave.

The Biden administration denies this, pointing to its criticism of civilian casualties in Gaza and its efforts to boost humanitarian aid to the enclave, where health officials say nearly 38,000 have been killed in Israel's assault which has also led to widespread hunger.

Israel launched its offensive in Gaza after Hamas-led fighters stormed into Israel on Oct. 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking 250 hostages, according to Israeli figures.

Here are the US officials who have resigned:

Maryam Hassanein, who was a special assistant at the Department of Interior, quit her job on Tuesday. She slammed Biden's foreign policy, describing it as "genocide-enabling" and dehumanizing toward Arabs and Muslims. Israel denies genocide allegations.

Mohammed Abu Hashem, a Palestinian American, said last month he ended a 22-year career in the US Air Force. He said he lost relatives in Gaza in the ongoing war, including an aunt killed in an Israeli air strike in October.

Riley Livermore, who was a US Air Force engineer, said in mid-June that he was leaving his role. "I don't want to be working on something that can turn around and be used to slaughter innocent people," he told the Intercept news website.

Stacy Gilbert, who served in the State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, left in late May. She said she resigned over an administration report to Congress that she said falsely stated Israel was not blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Alexander Smith, a contractor for USAID, quit in late May, alleging censorship after the US foreign aid agency canceled publication of his presentation on maternal and child mortality among Palestinians. The agency said it had not gone through proper review and approval.

Lily Greenberg Call, a Jewish political appointee, resigned in May, having served as a special assistant to the chief of staff in the Interior Department. "As a Jew, I cannot endorse the Gaza catastrophe," she wrote in the Guardian.

Anna Del Castillo, a deputy director at the White House's Office of Management and Budget, departed in April and became the first known White House official to leave the administration over policy toward Gaza.

Hala Rharrit, an Arabic language spokesperson for the State Department, departed her post in April in opposition to the United States' Gaza policy, she wrote on her LinkedIn page.

Annelle Sheline resigned from the State Department's human rights bureau in late March, writing in a CNN article that she was unable to serve a government that "enables such atrocities."

Tariq Habash, a Palestinian American, quit as special assistant in the Education Department's office of planning in January. He said the Biden administration was turning a "blind eye" to atrocities in Gaza.

Harrison Mann, a US Army major and Defense Intelligence Agency official, resigned in November over Gaza policy and went public with his reasons in May.

Josh Paul, director of the State Department's bureau of political military affairs, left in October in the first publicly known resignation, citing what he described as Washington's "blind support" for Israel.



'Save Us': Gazans Want Trump to End War with Israel

"God willing the war on the Gaza Strip will end and the situation will change," Trump told AFP.
"God willing the war on the Gaza Strip will end and the situation will change," Trump told AFP.
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'Save Us': Gazans Want Trump to End War with Israel

"God willing the war on the Gaza Strip will end and the situation will change," Trump told AFP.
"God willing the war on the Gaza Strip will end and the situation will change," Trump told AFP.

Palestinians in Gaza on Wednesday want Donald Trump, who won the US election, to end the war between Israel and Hamas that has devastated their territory.

The conflict sparked by Hamas's October 7 attack has taken an appalling human toll in the Gaza Strip, displacing most of its residents, causing widespread hunger and death, and leaving hospitals struggling to cope.

"We were displaced, killed... there's nothing left for us, we want peace," Mamdouh al-Jadba, who was displaced to Gaza City from Jabalia, told AFP.

"I hope Trump finds a solution, we need someone strong like Trump to end the war and save us, enough, God, this is enough," said the 60-year-old.

"I was displaced three times, my house was destroyed, my children are homeless in the south... There's nothing left, Gaza is finished."

Umm Ahmed Harb, from the Al-Shaaf area east of Gaza City, was also counting on Trump to "stand by our side" and end the territory's suffering.

"God willing the war will end, not for our sake but for the sake of our young children who are innocent, they were martyred and are dying of hunger," she told AFP.

"We cannot buy anything with the high prices (of food). We are here in fear, terror and death."

For Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, where violence has also surged since October last year, Trump's victory was reason to fear for the future.

"Trump is firm in some decisions, but these decisions could serve Israel's interests politically more than they serve the Palestinian cause," said Samir Abu Jundi, a 60-year-old in the city of Ramallah.

Another man who identified himself only by his nickname, Abu Mohammed, said he also saw no reason to believe Trump's victory would be in favor of the Palestinians, saying "nothing will change except more decline".

He said all US presidents "are in favor of the State of Israel", the Palestinian from east Jerusalem told AFP.

The United States is Israel's main political and military backer and despite pressure from President Joe Biden's administration for a ceasefire, the support has not wavered.

Imad Fakhida, a school principal in the main West Bank city of Ramallah, said "Trump's return to power... will lead us to hell and there will be a greater and more difficult escalation."

"He is known for his complete and greatest support for Israel," he added.

- 'We expect peace' -

During his first term in office, Trump moved the US embassy to Jerusalem, recognized Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights and helped normalize ties between Israel and several Arab states under the so-called Abraham Accords.

The Accords were condemned as "treason" by Palestinian leaders who feared they undercut their aspirations for a homeland, and led to disgruntlement in Hamas.

The war erupted on October 7, 2023 after Hamas militants attacked Israel, resulting in 1,206 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed 43,391 people in Gaza, a majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry the United Nations considers reliable.

During his campaign for a return to the White House, Trump said Gaza, which is located on the eastern Mediterranean, could be "better than Monaco".

He also said he would have responded the same way as Israel did following the October 7 attack, while urging the US ally to "get the job done" because it was "losing a lot of support".

More broadly he has promised to bring an end to raging international crises, even saying he could "stop wars with a telephone call".

In Gaza, such statements gave reason for hope.

"We expect peace to come and the war to end with Trump because in his election campaign he said that he wants peace and calls for stopping the wars on Gaza and the Middle East," said Ibrahim Alian, 33, from Gaza City.

Like many of the territory's residents, Alian has been displaced several times by the fighting. He said he also lost his father to the war.

"God willing the war on the Gaza Strip