Another State official Stacy Gilbert resigns over Biden's Gaza policy
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The report Gilbert resigned over is a response to a presidential memo NSM-20 issued by Biden requiring the State Department to assess if "Israel’s" use of US weapons in Gaza violated US law or IHL.
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Senior US State official Stacy Gilbert in June 2018 (Social media/US State Department)
A senior US State Department official, Stacy Gilbert, resigned this week over disagreements with a newly published report claiming "Israel" was not blocking aid into Gaza, according to The Washington Post, citing two officials.
Gilbert served in the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, and, on Tuesday, she emailed staff stating her belief that the State Department was wrong in its conclusion that "Israel" is not behind obstructing humanitarian assistance to Gaza, as per officials who read the letter.
A State Department spokesperson responded when asked about Gilbert's resignation, saying, "We have made clear we welcome diverse points of view and believe it makes us stronger."
The spokesperson continued to claim that the department will continue to welcome many viewpoints for the policymaking process.
Former State Department official Josh Paul, who was the first official to resign over Biden's Gaza policy, posted on LinkedIn about Gilbert, "On the day when the White House announced that the latest atrocity in Rafah did not cross its red line, this resignation demonstrates that the Biden Administration will do anything to avoid the truth."
"This is not just a story of bureaucratic complicity or ineptitude — there are people signing off on arms transfers, people drafting arms transfer approval memos, people turning a blind eye," he continued. People "who could be speaking up, people who have an awesome responsibility to do good, and a lifelong commitment to human rights — whose choice is to let the bureaucracy function as though it were business as usual."
Denying the truth
The report Gilbert resigned over was a response to a presidential memo known as NSM-20 issued by Biden in February requiring the State Department to assess if "Israel's" use of US weapons in Gaza violated US or international humanitarian law and included an examination of whether humanitarian aid had been intentionally obstructed.
However, the report concluded that while "aid remains insufficient," the US does not "currently assess that the Israeli government is prohibiting or otherwise restricting the transport or delivery of U.S. humanitarian assistance."
Gilbert said "Israel" was blocking aid from reaching Gaza which continued to be hindered in the weeks since the report was issued. Yet, although the vast majority of aid and humanitarian organizations cite major obstruction, the report found that there were not enough grounds to stop weapons from going to "Israel".
The State Department spokesperson claimed further that "we continue to press the government of Israel to avoid harming civilians and urgently expand humanitarian access to and inside Gaza. This includes facilitating provision of lifesaving assistance, allowing fuel entry, and ensuring safe freedom of movement for humanitarian workers."
Just two weeks ago, an Interior Department staffer became the first Jewish political appointee to resign publicly in protest against US unwavering support for "Israel's" war on Gaza.
Lily Greenberg Call, a special assistant to the chief of staff in the Interior Department, accused Joe Biden of exploiting Jewish people to justify the US policy in the Israeli war on Gaza.
The US State Department witnessed a mass flow of resignations in April and the months preceding.
Dr. Annelle Sheline's resignation from the State Department’s Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor marks the most notable departure from the department since Josh Paul, a senior official in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, called it quits.
Hala Rharrit, who had been a foreign service officer for more than 18 years, resigned just last month, saying, "We have no ground to stand on anymore," adding that the US efforts to stop the Israeli war on Gaza were a "failed policy".
Tariq Habash, a former policy advisor who resigned in January, further stated that anonymous letters urging Biden to shift his "Israel" policy "were not enough anymore" and called on other officials to resign, whether publicly or not.
Objections within the army
There is also Aaron Bushnell, the US Airman who set himself on fire in protest of the US role and policy in Gaza. Subsequently, in a vigil for Bushnell, a number of US veterans burned their uniform in protest of US policies in the Gaza Strip and the government's unconditional support for "Israel".
An Army officer assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency has resigned this month in protest over the US support for "Israel", which, according to him, had “enabled and empowered” the killing of Palestinian civilians.
Major Harrison Mann announced his resignation and explained his reasons for leaving the service in a post on LinkedIn.
"The past months have presented us with the most horrific and heartbreaking images imaginable — sometimes playing on the news in our own spaces — and I have been unable to ignore the connection between those images and my duties here. This caused me incredible shame and guilt," Major Harrison Mann wrote in the post,
According to his resignation letter, which he posted on his personal LinkedIn account, on Monday, Mann resigned in protest of the unconditional US support to "Israel" resulting in the ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip.
Mann is not foreign to the US policies in the Middle East, for his biography indicates that he has focused on the Middle East and Africa for approximately half of his 13-year career and noted that he has previously worked at the US Embassy in Tunis.
