US State Department official resigns over Biden's Gaza policy

By Cagri Kosak

ISTANBUL (AA) - Stacy Gilbert, one of the senior officials working in the US State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM), announced on Wednesday that she is resigning from her post over President Joe Biden administration's policies on Gaza.

Washington Post said in a report that Gilbert sent an e-mail to the State Department employees, saying the department report that Israel did not obstruct aid to Gaza was incorrect.

The Post also reported that Gilbert refrained from commenting when asked about the issue, and quoted a State Department official as saying that Gilbert and the department held different views on the matter.

Josh Paul, the director who also resigned from the US State Department due to its Gaza policy, also made a statement about Gilbert's resignation on his LinkedIn account.

"Stacy's resignation from PRM underlines the absolute failure of the Biden Administration and the (Antony) Blinken State Department to do any of these things - through over 7 months of slaughter in Gaza, the U.S. has not provided protection - it has provided weapons; it has not eased suffering - it has enabled a famine; it has not resolved the plight of persecuted and forcibly displaced people in Palestine - it has provided the diplomatic cover for Israel to continue their persecution and to repeatedly forcibly displace them without accountability or justice," Paul, who oversaw US arms transfers while working at the department, said in the post.

- Resignations from US officials over Biden's Gaza policy

Lily Greenberg Call, special assistant to the Chief of Staff of the US Department of Internal Affairs, announced on May 16 that she resigned from her post due to the Biden administration's support for Israel's attacks on Gaza.

Call, a diplomat of Jewish origin appointed by Biden, stated that he joined the Biden administration for "a better America" ​​and said: "I can no longer in good conscience continue to represent this administration."

Major Harrison Mann, who works at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) affiliated with the US Department of Defense, announced on May 13 that he resigned from his duty due to his country's "unconditional" support for Israel's attacks in Gaza, and that US' Gaza policy led to the killing and starvation of "tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians."

Referring to the fact that he has served in the US military for 13 years and comes from a Jewish family of European origin, Mann said: "At some point – whatever the justification – you’re either advancing a policy that enables the mass starvation of children, or you’re not."

Aaron Bushnell, 25, a US Air Force officer, poured gasoline over his head and set himself on fire in front of the Israeli Embassy in Washington on Feb. 24 after saying he can "no longer be complicit in genocide."

Foreign relations officer Annelle Sheline, who had a two-year contract at the State Department, also publicly announced her resignation.