Friday, October 20, 2023
Washington's decision to increase military funding for Israel prompted the resignation of a US State Department official, citing concerns that the US-backed conflict in Gaza will cause further suffering for both Israelis and Palestinians.
In a memo posted online Wednesday, Josh Paul, director of the State Department's Office of Political-Military Affairs, argued that President Joe Biden's administration is continuing the mistakes Washington has made for decades.
"The response that Israel is taking, and with it American support for both that response and the status quo occupation, will only lead to greater and deeper suffering for both Israel and the Palestinian people," he wrote.
"I'm afraid we're repeating the same mistakes we've made in the past decades, and I refuse to be a part of that any longer," he said.
He added that the Biden administration's "blind support of one party" led to policy decisions that were "short-sighted, destructive, unfair and contrary to the values we publicly espouse."
"I knew it was not without moral complexities and moral compromises, and I promised myself that I would stay as long as I felt that the harm I might do might be outweighed by the good I might do," Paul wrote, which has been involved in arms transfers to US allies for more than 11 years.
"I'm leaving today because I believe that on our current course in terms of continued -- indeed expanded and accelerated -- provision of lethal weapons to Israel, I've reached the end of that deal," he said.
In an interview with The New York Times, Paul also said that "continuing to give Israel what he described as carte blanche to kill a generation of enemies only to create a new one ultimately does not serve the interests of the United States."
"What this leads to is a desire to establish security at any cost, including the cost to the Palestinian civilian population," he told the US publication. "And that ultimately doesn't lead to safety."
Hamas, the group that rules Gaza, attacked southern Israel on October 7, prompting Israeli retaliation against the besieged Palestinian enclave.
The firefight in the region has killed at least 1,400 people in Israel and more than 3,700 have been martyred in Gaza. In addition, more than 14,000 Palestinians were injured and more than a million were made homeless.
Biden visited Israel on Wednesday, showing support and giving it the "green light to act as it sees fit" in Gaza.
