Former Obama staffers voice concern about White House support for Gaza onslaught

By Diyar Guldogan

WASHINGTON (AA) - More than 260 former staffers in the Barack Obama administration slammed the White House for not doing enough to stop the onslaught in the Gaza Strip.

"We reach out to you as former Obama-Biden administration and campaign alumni to express our concerns about your continued support for Israel's war on Gaza and upcoming elections," the staffers said in a letter to their former bosses Tuesday.

While more than 170 former staffers, alumni, interns and campaign directors signed the letter, 80 were anonymous.

The staffers said Obama and Joe Biden have "tremendous influence" on the fate of Palestinians and the democratic society in America.

"We implore you both to lead now before our democracy and the world backslide further into war and authoritarianism," said the letter.

They said Biden has ignored the growing majority of Democratic voters who recognize Israel's war in Gaza as genocide and demand and immediate and permanent cease-fire.

"You are abandoning your duty to represent us - the majority. You are responsible for the consequences of your own actions and inactions," it said.

More than 34,500 Palestinians have been killed and 77,700 injured in a brutal Israeli offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian resistance group, Hamas.

Israel has imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

More than six months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which in January issued an interim ruling that ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.