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.



The Buildup to Attacks on Israeli Football Supporters in Amsterdam

Israeli Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters demonstrate and light flares in Amsterdam, Netherlands, November 7, 2024, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. Michel Van Bergen/via REUTERS/File Photo
Israeli Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters demonstrate and light flares in Amsterdam, Netherlands, November 7, 2024, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. Michel Van Bergen/via REUTERS/File Photo
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The Buildup to Attacks on Israeli Football Supporters in Amsterdam

Israeli Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters demonstrate and light flares in Amsterdam, Netherlands, November 7, 2024, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. Michel Van Bergen/via REUTERS/File Photo
Israeli Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters demonstrate and light flares in Amsterdam, Netherlands, November 7, 2024, in this screengrab obtained from a social media video. Michel Van Bergen/via REUTERS/File Photo

Supporters of Israeli soccer team Maccabi Tel Aviv were targeted for beatings by groups of thugs in the early hours of Friday following a match with Amsterdam's Ajax, the city's mayor Femke Halsema has said. Among dozens of Israeli supporters who were chased and assaulted, five suffered injuries needing hospital treatment, police said. In all 63 suspects have been arrested and authorities promised an investigation, as politicians within the country and beyond expressed their condemnation.

Here is a closer look at how the situation escalated.

Tension began to build on Wednesday as some of the 3,000 visiting Maccabi supporters had minor altercations back and forth with locals including taxi drivers and Ajax supporters in the city centre, police said.

A police report said groups of Maccabi supporters burned a Palestinian flag on Dam square, pulled another down from a nearby building and vandalized a taxi.

After a call went out on social media, angry Muslim taxi drivers gathered outside a casino where a group of 400 Maccabi supporters were gathered, and police intervened amid skirmishes.

Dutch media have reported on videos showing the beating of a Muslim taxi driver and a group of youths yelling anti-Semitic slurs at a person in a canal said to be a Maccabi supporter who was pushed in.

Reuters was unable to confirm those incidents took place as portrayed.

On the day of the match, Maccabi supporters were filmed chanting anti-Arab slogans in front of the National Monument on Amsterdam's central Dam square, including swear words against Palestine, in videos verified by Reuters.

Police guarded the perimeter but fights around the fringes were reported.

Dutch pro-Palestinian groups planned a demonstration outside the stadium during the game, arguing that the match should have been cancelled because of alleged Israeli war crimes in Gaza. Israel denies war crimes, saying it is defending itself and blaming Hamas for civilian deaths, which the militants reject.

Dutch authorities were aware of anger over the war in Gaza, but saw no reason to cancel the match. The relationship between supporters -- the usual source of football violence -- is generally good between the two teams, Halsema said on Friday.

Ajax has strong Jewish associations, and fans sometimes carry Star of David flags to matches; it also has many Muslim supporters.

Less than 1% of Amsterdam's population is Jewish following the Holocaust, while around 15% is Muslim, mostly second and first generation immigrants from North Africa and the Middle East. The conservative Dutch government has vowed to implement Europe's strictest measures to limit immigration and reject asylum-seekers.

Ajax's most hardcore group of supporters, known as the F-Side, had said politics and football should be kept separate and that they would "intervene if necessary" if it went ahead at the ground.

Riot police at the stadium kept opposing groups apart and few incidents were reported when the match ended around 11 p.m.

However in the city center, around midnight, security fell apart.

Calls to target returning Maccabi supporters began circulating on Dutch messaging groups, leading to what mayor Halsema described as "anti-Semitic hit and run assaults".

Police used to dispersing football mobs could not easily stop smaller, highly mobile groups of attackers with no obvious club allegiance.

Police said they collected around 200 Maccabi fans on Dam square to protect them and escort them back to their hotels, but many were assaulted elsewhere in town, with perpetrators quickly fleeing on motor scooters.

Films on social media and verified by Reuters showed groups attacking Israelis.

Of the 63 people detained, most were later released pending charges.

Amsterdam banned demonstrations through the weekend and gave police emergency stop-and-search powers.