A State Department official has resigned from the agency over the Biden administration’s approach to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, the official announced on LinkedIn Wednesday.
Josh Paul, who claimed to have over 11 years of experience in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, announced his resignation on LinkedIn, citing “a policy disagreement concerning our continued lethal assistance to Israel” as the reason for his resignation.
“Let me be clear,” Paul wrote. “Hamas’ attack on Israel was not just a monstrosity; it was a monstrosity of monstrosities. I also believe that potential escalations by Iran-linked groups such as Hezbollah, or by Iran itself, would be a further cynical exploitation of the existing tragedy. But I believe to the core of my soul that the response Israel is taking, and with it the American support both for that response, and for the status quo of the occupation, will only lead to more and deeper suffering for both the Israeli and the Palestinian people – and is not in the long term American interest.”
“This Administration’s response – and much of Congress’ as well – is an impulsive reaction built on confirmation bias, political convenience, intellectual bankruptcy, and bureaucratic inertia,” Paul adds. “That is to say, it is immensely disappointing, and entirely unsurprising. Decades of the same approach have shown that security for peace leads to neither security, nor to peace. The fact is, blind support for one side is destructive in the long term to the interests of the people on both sides.”
Paul stated that he is unable to endorse a set of policy choices that he sees as “shortsighted, destructive, unjust, and contradictory to the very values that we publicly espouse,” including the shipping over of weapons.
The former State Department official claimed in an interview with The New York Times that while the US supports Israel, the country has cut off Gaza’s access to food, water, medical care, and electricity, demonstrating the failure of the legal barriers meant to prevent American weapons from falling into the hands of human rights violators.
“There’s a moment where you can say, OK, well, you know, it’s out of my hands, but I know Congress is going to push back,” he told the Times. “But in this instance, there isn’t any significant pushback likely from Congress, there isn’t any other oversight mechanism, there isn’t any other forum for debate, and that’s part of what got into my decision making.”
When asked about personnel problems, a State Department spokesman told CNN that the department does not comment on them.
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