The American CNN network said that a group of officials in President Joe Biden’s administration who resigned due to the administration’s handling of the Israeli aggression on Gaza are working together to support the opposition and pressure the government to change its course.
The network explained that Biden is facing pressure from abroad and internally because of his support for Israel after 8 months of war on Gaza, and pointed out that although the administration’s rhetoric has become harsher – with warnings that Israel must do more to protect civilians and allow the entry of more aid – The policies remained largely unchanged.
The network spoke to Josh Paul, Harrison Mann, Tariq Habash, Anil Shelin, Hala Harriet, Lily Greenberg Cole, Alex Smith, and Stacey Gilbert, who announced their resignation in recent weeks.
They said that they felt that their views, experiences, and concerns were not taken into account, and that the administration was ignoring the humanitarian losses resulting from the Israeli war. They talked about the administration’s lack of attention to the impact of the war on Washington’s credibility.
The officials who spoke to the network agreed that they have many colleagues who are still within the government but agree with the decision to leave.
Accordingly, those who resigned confirmed that they are working to achieve two goals. The first relates to providing support and advice to their colleagues – whether they choose to leave or continue in the opposition from within – while the second goal includes working to increase pressure on the administration to change its course.
Josh Paul, who was the first American official to resign over the war on Gaza, said: After he withdrew from the US State Department in October, “we are thinking about how we can use our shared interests and continue to push together for change.”
Alex Smith explained that the resignees have been in touch with each other and hope to use their collective power to “make our voices heard, and speak on behalf of the many employees who are still working and cannot speak out because they want to keep their jobs.”
Early perception
Some of the resignations admitted that they realized early in the wake of the Al-Aqsa Flood operation carried out by the Palestinian resistance on October 7, that the Israeli government’s reaction would be violent.
“I spent the first few weeks struggling to deal with the shock and grief of losing people, but also realizing almost immediately that whatever would happen, in response, would be brutal and terrible,” said Lily Greenberg, a former Interior Ministry employee who was the first Jewish official to resign publicly. .
Greenberg indicated that she felt “disappointed” from the beginning due to the administration’s response, “but I wanted to see what I could do from within because of my closeness to power.” She said she felt the concerns she shared were ignored, and at one point came to be considered a “troublemaker.”
She added, “I have reached a point where I can no longer be honest with myself and represent the administration,” announcing her resignation last May.
In turn, Harrison Mann, the Jewish army officer who was the first member of the intelligence community to resign in November, spoke about his experience and said, “I was despondent about the course of the war in Gaza. It became clear early on that the Israelis were going to kill large numbers of civilians in a timely manner.” random”.
Mann explained that resigning was a “very slow and drawn-out process,” so he did not actually leave his job until this week and did not tell people why he resigned until recently for fear of becoming “persona non grata.”
Biden administration response
On the other hand, Biden administration officials stressed that they respect differences of opinion, and State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said, “We listen to the people. We want to hear their opinions. We want to hear the expertise they provide. But in the end, it is the president, the secretary, and other senior officials who “They make decisions about what US policy should be.”
In turn, USAID Director Samantha Power said, “We have many viewpoints at the agency that criticize American foreign policy. We have viewpoints that believe we are doing everything we can, and my job is to listen to those viewpoints, especially those that are guided by facts on the ground and ideas about “What more can we do?”
“The situation is bad. Civilians are living in unimaginable terror and deprivation. So, if there are people, especially in an institution like ours that has humanitarian and development concerns, who are not satisfied with what we are doing, then that will be disappointing,” she added.