US Army officer resigns over 'unconditional support' to 'Israel'

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
13 May 2024 22:57
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US Major Harrison Mann's resignation letter highlights his moral dilemma over the US support for "Israel" amid the war on Gaza conflict.

An undated image of US Army officer, Major Harrison Mann, taken from his LinkedIn account (Social media)

An Army officer assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency has resigned 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 on Monday.

"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.

#US Army Major Harrison Mann, employed by the Defense Intelligence Agency, has declared his resignation, citing an inability to remain silent any longer regarding the US policy on the Israeli war on #Gaza.

In a letter shared on his public LinkedIn profile, Mann expressed… pic.twitter.com/9LHWp9bcy2
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) May 13, 2024

Moreover, Mann's letter read, "The policy that has never been far from my mind for the past six months is the nearly unqualified support for the government of Israel, which has enabled and empowered the killing and starvation of tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians," adding that "this unconditional support also encourages reckless escalation that risks wider war."

Significantly, Mann also stated in the letter that he had previously emailed his comments to colleagues on April 16.

Mann stated that earlier, he had persisted in performing his responsibilities at the Defense Intelligence Agency without raising his concerns, anticipating that the war would conclude soon.

"I told myself my individual contribution was minimal, and that if I didn’t do my job, someone else would, so why cause a stir for nothing?" he wrote, adding, "My work here — however administrative or marginal it appeared — has unquestionably contributed to that support."

The Major then asserted that "at some point — whatever the justification — you’re either advancing a policy that enables the mass starvation of children, or you’re not."

"I know that I did, in my small way, wittingly advance that policy," the resignation letter read, stressing, "And I want to clarify that as the descendant of European Jews, I was raised in a particularly unforgiving moral environment when it came to the topic of bearing responsibility for ethnic cleansing."

He mentioned that he had intended to depart from the Army "at some point," but due to the Gaza war, he submitted his resignation on November 1 and left his assignment at the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) prematurely. The timeline for his separation from the Army remains uncertain.

Mann is not the only one that resigned, as in October, Josh Paul, a State Department official in the bureau overseeing arms transfers, resigned in objection to the administration's choice to persist in sending weapons to "Israel".

The US State Department witnessed yet another resignation announced on March 29 as a result of US President Joe Biden’s “horrific policy” toward "Israel", which is enabling “a genocide in Gaza.”

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.

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".

More US officials to resign over Biden's 'failed Israel policy'

The United States government expects to witness more official resignations due to the administration's "Israel" policy, Politico reported, citing four former officials.

"I have seen a clear uptick in non-public resignations in the past few weeks, and would not be surprised to see more follow a sham report," said former State Department official Josh Paul, who had been responsible for supplying US allies with weapons until his resignation in November.

This comes amid the Biden administration's failure to issue a report detailing "Israel's" war crimes and international law violations in Gaza, which was due Wednesday. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller stated earlier that the report would not meet its due date but failed to provide a reason why.

"We are trying very hard to meet that deadline … It’s possible it slips just a little bit, but we are trying to get it done by tomorrow," Miller said.

Public and non-public resignations also came and are expected to increase, because the United States did not stop the Israeli invasion of Rafah. The former US officials explained that the Rafah invasion shows that Benjamin Netanyahu does not respect Joe Biden's imposed "red lines", which would, in turn, prompt contemplations among US officials regarding the extent of the government's influence on "Israel", NatSec Daily relayed.