Government officials from 40 departments within the Biden administration signed an open letter on Tuesday condemning the president’s response to the Israel-Palestine conflict and demanding an immediate ceasefire. The letter, which was endorsed by staffers from the State Department, Justice Department, and even the White House itself, accuses President Biden of “spreading misinformation” about the war and charges Israel with committing “war crimes” against Gaza.
According to initial reports by Axios and the New York Times, the scathing five-page document made public on Tuesday was drafted by a junior State Department employee identified as Sylvia Yacoub, who works as a foreign affairs officer in the Bureau of Middle East Affairs. The letter’s other signatories remained anonymous to avoid professional retaliation.
The “dissent cable” circulated for signatures via an interdepartmental memo last week claims to represent “a coalition of Biden-Harris Administration political appointees and civil servants, positioned across the domestic and foreign policy spheres, working in federal agencies, departments, independent agencies, and the White House.”
“We call on President Biden to urgently demand a ceasefire; and to call for de-escalation of the current conflict by securing the immediate release of the Israeli hostages and arbitrarily detained Palestinians; the restoration of water, fuel, electricity and other basic services; and the passage of adequate humanitarian aid to the Gaza strip,” the letter continued.
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Biden officials, as well as other American leaders and heads of state throughout the Western world, have pushed back against calls for a ceasefire, vowing to fully support Israel and defending its right to self-defense against Hamas. Instead, President Biden has requested “humanitarian pauses” in the conflict to secure hostages and evacuate civilians.
The Israel Defense Force has reportedly agreed to these requests, periodically opening an evacuation route along Gaza’s major highway. However, according to the letter, Israel’s actions during its ground campaign “all constitute war crimes and/or crimes against humanity under international law.”
“Yet we have failed to reassess our posture towards Israel. We doubled down on our unwavering military assistance to the Israeli government without clear or actionable redlines,” the signatories declared. “Members of the White House and the National Security Council displayed a clear disregard for the lives of Palestinians, a documented unwillingness to de-escalate, and, even prior to October 7, a reckless lack of strategic foresight.”
The letter criticized Biden for not accepting the casualty numbers reported by the Gaza Health Ministry (a Hamas-controlled government agency), but also condemned the “atrocities committed by Hamas on October 7.”
The White House has not responded to the letter or disclosed whether other dissenting correspondence has been sent, but Secretary of State Antony Blinken addressed the complaints within his own department in a memo sent after the letter’s release.
“I know that for many of you, the suffering caused by this crisis is taking a profound personal toll. 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,” Blinken wrote. “Some people in the Department may disagree with approaches we are taking or have views on what we can do better.”
However, he stopped short of acknowledging the calls for a ceasefire.
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