WASHINGTON (Xinhua) — A United States (US) State Department official working in the bureau that oversees US arms transfer to foreign nations has resigned in protest of the Joe Biden administration’s “blind support” for Israel in its ongoing conflict with Hamas.
Josh Paul, who has worked in the department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs for more than 11 years, said in his resignation letter dated Wednesday that he decided to leave because he couldn’t agree with his country’s “continued – indeed, expanded and expedited – provision of lethal arms to Israel.”
Paul said “This Administration’s response – and much of Congress’ as well – is an impulsive reaction built on confirmation bias, political convenience, intellectual bankruptcy, and bureaucratic inertia. That is to say, it is immensely disappointing and entirely unsurprising,” he wrote. “The fact is, blind support for one side is destructive in the long term to the interests of the people on both sides,” he continued.
“I fear we are repeating the same mistakes we have made these past decades, and I decline to be a part of it for longer.” “I cannot work in support of a set of major policy decisions, including rushing more arms to one side of the conflict, that I believe to be shortsighted, destructive, unjust and contradictory to the very values we publicly espouse,” Paul wrote.
The State Department declined to comment on Paul’s resignation, according to multiple US media reports, telling those seeking a response that the agency would not discuss personnel matters.
Since the start of the current conflict, the Biden administration has been repeating its stance that Israel has not only the right, but also the obligation to defend itself and protect its people. The administration has promised full support for Israel, vowing to provide whatever the country needs to prosecute the war against Hamas.
It has sent two carrier strike groups to waters near Israel as a deterrence and put some 2,000 troops on high alert for deployment – possibly into Israeli territory.
Biden addressed the nation in a televised speech from the White House on Thursday evening, using the occasion to sell to the American people his approach to conflicts in Israel and Ukraine. The president announced his administration’s request for Congress to pass a supplement spending bill that will provide USD10 billion in emergency assistance for Israel and USD60 billion for Ukraine’s conflict with Russia, according to media reports.
