As many as 100 employees from the US State Department and Agency for International Development signed an internal dissent memo slamming Joe Biden’s stand on the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas. The internal memo, which was leaked by an unknown person, accused the US President of “spreading misinformation” and unwilling to de-escalate the Middle Eastern conflict.
The five-page memo, organised on November 3, blames Biden for a failure to call out Israel for “war crimes” in Gaza during his speech on October 10, where the president said the country stands with its ally, US-based Axios reported. “[Biden] doubled down on our unwavering military assistance to the [Israeli government] without clear or actionable redlines,” the memo reads. The staffers went on to accuse Biden of spreading misinformation about the war. It also accuses Israel of committing “war crimes” after it initially cut power and humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza, which the Jewish State defended as a means to stop supplies from reaching Hamas.
‘Crisis is taking a toll’
US media reports said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who has been scrambling to help broker peace in the Middle East, acknowledged the internal dissent in a memo to staffers Monday. “I know that for many of you, the suffering caused by this crisis is taking a profound personal toll,” the country’s head statesman said, according to CNN. “The anguish that comes with seeing the daily images of babies, children, elderly people, women, and other civilians suffering in this crisis is wrenching. I feel it myself.
“Some people in the Department may disagree with approaches we are taking or have views on what we can do better,” Blinken wrote. “As I said in private and in public, we believe Palestinian people’s voices must be at the center of post-crisis governance in Gaza. We believe in Palestinian-led governance of Gaza, with Gaza unified with the West Bank. Gaza’s reconstruction must be supported with a sustained mechanism.”
The top US diplomat said the Biden administration’s “overarching objective remains the same: to bring this terrible conflict to a close as quickly as possible, while standing by Israel’s right and obligation, in full accordance with international humanitarian law, to ensure a terrorist attack like October 7th never happens again.”
Dissent channel
Since the Vietnam War, the US State Department has upheld a “dissent channel” enabling diplomats, both at distant embassies and within the department’s headquarters, to express opposition to policies. Although dissent memos are intended to remain confidential, occasional leaks to the media occur.
This is not the first State Department dissent memo regarding the Israel-Hamas war. Earlier this month, it was revealed that another memo was filed to the department to call on Blinken to demand an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, according to Politico. Last week, a pro-Palestinian group marched in Washington D.C., cursing at the president and demanding a ceasefire in Gaza amid Israel’s ground incursion to eradicate Hamas.