12 former gov't officials call Biden's Gaza policy 'failure,' 'threat to US national security'

By Rabia Iclal Turan

WASHINGTON (AA) - Twelve former US government officials who resigned over the Biden administration's policy on Gaza released a statement Tuesday, calling it a "failure and a threat to US national security.”

"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," they said in a joint statement.

"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," they added.

The statement, signed by four former officials from the State Department, one from the US Agency for International Development (USAID), three from the US military and four political staff, addresses the Biden administration with policy proposals regarding Israel's war on Gaza.

The signatories are former State Department officials Josh Paul, Annelle Sheline, Stacy Gilbert and Hala Rharrit, former policy advisor and political appointee at the US Department of Education Tariq Habash, former officials from the US Department of the Air Force Mohammed Abu Hashem and Riley Livermore, Deputy Director at the White House’s Office of Management and Budget Anna Del Castillo, former political appointee at the US Department of Interior Lily Greenberg Call, former special assistant at the US Department of the Interior Maryam Hassanein, former army officer from the Defense Intelligence Agency Harrison Mann, and former senior advisor at USAID Alexander Smith.

"This intransigent policy risks US national security and the lives of our service members and diplomats as has already been made evident with the killing of three US service members in Jordan in January and the evacuations of diplomatic facilities in the Middle East, and also poses a security risk for American citizens at home and abroad," they said.

Accusing the administration's policy of threatening US interests throughout the region, they said that US credibility has been "deeply undermined worldwide at a time we need it most, when the world is characterized by a new era of strategic competition."

According to the former US officials, who described the current Gaza policy as "failed," the policy has not made Israelis "any safer" and has "emboldened extremists" while being devastating for the Palestinian people.

"As a group of dedicated Americans in service of our country, we insist that there is another way," the statement said, outlining steps to ensure that a "catastrophic policy failure like this can never happen again."

Among the steps are implementing US Leahy Laws that prohibit providing military assistance to foreign forces involved in human rights violations and using all "available leverage to bring the conflict to an immediate close.”

It also calls on the US government to ensure expansion of humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza and the reconstruction of the territory as well as supporting self-determination for the Palestinian people.

“There is an urgent need for change in the organizational cultures and structures that have enabled the current US approach,” the statement said.

“This includes the strengthening of oversight and accountability mechanisms within the Executive Branch, greater transparency regarding arms transfers and legal deliberations, an end to the silencing and sidelining of critical voices, and statutory change via the legislative process.”

Calling on their former colleagues, they said in the statement: “We urge you to not be complicit."