US EDUCATION OFFICIALS LEAVE THEIR JOBS BECAUSE OF ISRAEL-GAZA POLICY

By Reuters January 4, 2024, 03:45 updated: January 4, 2024, 03:48

US President Joe Biden made his remarks during a meeting with business and labor leaders at the White House last week. Midterm election results greatly boost Biden's credibility, the authors say. (Photo credit: Reuters)

Biden staffers disagreed about their support of the Biden administration for Israel; many of them supported an urgent ceasefire.

A senior official at the U.S. Department of Education resigned on Wednesday as a result of President Joe Biden's efforts to address the conflict in Gaza. It is the latest sign of disagreement within the government over the growing number of deaths in the war.

In addition, on Wednesday, seventeen members of Biden's re-election campaign staff issued a warning in an anonymous letter that, as a result of this problem, Biden may experience a loss of voters.

"I cannot remain silent as this administration turns a blind eye to the atrocities committed against innocent Palestinian lives in what leading human rights experts have called a genocidal campaign by the Israeli government," said Tariq Habash, special assistant in the Education Department's Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development. Miguel Cardona.

Early in Biden's presidency, Habash—a Palestinian-American and student debt expert—was appointed as part of the Education Department's student loan expertise development.

Biden's re-election campaign staff called for a ceasefire in Gaza. In a letter they sent to Medium, they asked Biden to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.

In their letter, the employees stated, "Biden's staff for president has seen volunteers flock, and people who have voted blue for decades feel unsure about doing so for the first time because of this conflict."

The Biden campaign did not respond quickly to requests for a statement.

On Wednesday, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that the U.S. has not overseen any actions in Gaza that are considered genocide. His statement was in response to South Africa's lawsuit against Israel's military operation in Gaza at the International Court of Justice.

Israel also refutes claims of genocide in Gaza.

In October, Josh Paul, a former State Department official, left the Biden administration in protest against what he called the administration's "blind support" of Israel.

In November, more than 1,000 officials from the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) signed an open letter calling on the Biden administration to call for an immediate ceasefire.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken acknowledged disagreements in a letter in November after at least three cables critical of government policy were submitted to the State Department's internal "dissent channel."

Several Biden administration staff members stood guard near the White House in December to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.

According to Israeli calculations, the October 7 attack by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas against Israel killed 1,200 people, and about 240 hostages were taken back to Gaza. Total Palestinian casualties from Israel's retaliatory strikes reached 22,313 on Wednesday, nearly 1% of the 2.3 million people living in Gaza.

Israeli bombardment has divided much of the enclave, leaving most Gazans homeless and facing food shortages that threaten starvation.

The United States publicly denounced the rhetoric of some Israeli ministers and called on Israel to stop civilian deaths in Gaza. Critics argue that Washington is not using its influence as a major supplier of arms and aid to influence Israeli policy.

News Sources: https://www.jpost.com/international/article-780689