State Dept employee explains the conditions for his resignation

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: The Washington Post
24 Oct 2023 15:29
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Josh Paul, a former director at the State Department, details the conditions in an opinion piece in the Washington Post.

State Department building in Washington, Dec. 15, 2014. (AP)

After resigning from his position as the director of congressional and public affairs at the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, Josh Paul wrote an opinion piece for the Washington Post detailing the conditions for his resignation.

Paul, who had worked for more than a decade in the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs under four different administrations, reports that he had experienced unprecedented resistance from the State Department against considering the humanitarian consequences of arms sales.

The Israeli occupation is suffering from economic losses worth billions of dollars amid its ongoing aggression in the #Gaza Strip that has killed thousands of #Palestinians.#Palestine pic.twitter.com/vztbv2c7Me
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) October 24, 2023

Paul cites the moral challenges and the exceptionalism of Israeli arms requests.

"Managing the tension between human rights concerns and the requests of our partners is a standard and healthy part of the arms transfer policymaking process. A lot of good people collaborate to ensure such transfers advance U.S. relationships while meeting the standards of law, policy, and conscience. Debates typically rage within the bureau and across the State Department," Josh Paul said.

"The absence of a willingness to hold that debate when it comes to Israel is not proof of our commitment to Israel’s security. Rather, it is proof of our commitment to a policy that, the record shows, is a dead end — and proof of our willingness to abandon our values and turn a blind eye to the suffering of millions in Gaza when it is politically expedient. That is not the State Department I know. And that is why I had to leave it."

Back on the 18th, Josh Paul who was responsible for facilitating arms transfers stepped down from his position: citing "shortsighted decisions" made by the Biden administration as the reason for his resignation, which forced him to make an ethical compromise he found unbearable.

In a LinkedIn post justifying his decision, Paul wrote, "In my 11 years I have made more moral compromises than I can recall, each heavily, but each with my promise to myself in mind, and intact."

"Why did the Prime Minister instruct our representatives at the #UN not to support a ceasefire?"

- Former leader of the #British Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn#UK #Palestine #GazaUnderAttack #GazaGenocide pic.twitter.com/Ei6KDdTpxi
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) October 24, 2023

"I am leaving today because I believe that in our current course with regards to the continued — indeed, expanded and expedited — provision of lethal arms to Israel — I have reached the end of that bargain," he added.