Pro-Palestinian demonstrators protest outside as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken delivers speech at the Brookings Institution in Washington DC, United States on July 1, 2024. [Celal Güneş – Anadolu Agency]
A dozen former US government officials who resigned in protest over the country’s support for Israel’s war in Gaza have accused President Joe Biden’s administration of “undeniable complicity” in the killing of Palestinians in the coastal enclave. In a letter released yesterday, the former officials said that the administration is violating US laws by supporting Israel and exploiting loopholes to continue supplying weapons to its ally.
“America’s diplomatic cover for, and continuous flow of arms to, Israel has ensured our undeniable complicity in the killings and forced starvation of a besieged Palestinian population in Gaza,” said the former officials. Moreover, they called on the US government to utilise its “necessary and available leverage” to end the war, secure the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza, and free Palestinian prisoners in Israel. They also urged the US to support Palestinian self-determination and provide immediate and expanded humanitarian assistance in Gaza.
While President Biden and his administration have called for Israel to exercise restraint, the US continues to provide military and diplomatic support to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right coalition government, which includes hard-line nationalist parties. This stance has led to several resignations in protest since Netanyahu launched his war against the Palestinians in Gaza last October.
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The latest resignation came from Maryam Hassanein, a special assistant at the Department of the Interior, who left her post yesterday. She, along with former officials from the Department of State, the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the military and four political staff members, labelled the White House policy on the war in the enclave as “a failure and a threat to US national security”.
The letter added: “This is not only morally reprehensible and in clear violation of international humanitarian law and US laws, but it has also put a target on America’s back.”
Israel’s ongoing attacks on the Gaza Strip have killed almost 38,000 Palestinians, most of them children and women, Anadolu has reported. The ministry of health in the besieged enclave added today that at least 87,266 others have been wounded in the Israeli onslaught.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on 6 May.
Source:Middle East Monitor
