FLASH
Shkruar nga Pamfleti
After weeks of images of bloodied children and fleeing families in Gaza, a significant number of Americans, including from Biden's Democratic Party, disagree with his support for Israel's military campaign...
Federal government employees from the State Department to NASA are circulating open letters demanding that President Joe Biden pursue a ceasefire in Israel's war against Hamas. Congressional staffers are taking to the microphones outside the Capitol, speaking out to condemn what they say is lawmakers' silence on the Palestinian civilian death toll.
As the death toll in Gaza mounts, Biden and Congress are facing unusual public challenges from within over their support for Israel's offensive. Hundreds of administration staffers and on Capitol Hill are signing open letters, speaking to reporters and holding vigils, all in an effort to shift US policy toward more urgent action to curb Palestinian casualties.
"Most of our bosses on Capitol Hill are not listening to the people they represent ." one congressional staffer told the crowd at a protest this month. Wearing medical masks covering their faces, approximately 100 congressional aides laid flowers in front of Congress to honor civilians killed in the conflict.
After weeks of seeing images of bloodied children and fleeing families in Gaza, a significant number of Americans, including from Biden's Democratic Party, disagree with his support for Israel's military campaign. A poll by the Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research in early November found that 40% of the American public believed Israel's response to Gaza had gone too far. The fight has rocked college campuses and sparked nationwide protests.
By late last week, an open letter had been endorsed by 650 employees of diverse religious backgrounds from more than 30 federal agencies, organizers said. Agencies range from the Executive Office of the President to the Census Bureau and include the State Department, the US Agency for International Development, and the Department of Defense.
A Biden political appointee, who helped organize the multi-agency open letter, said the president's rejection of appeals to push Netanyahu for a long-term cease-fire had left some federal employees feeling "rested, in a some way".
" That's why people are using all kinds of dissent and open letters. Because we've already gone through the channels of trying to do it internally ," he said.
The letter condemns both the killings by Hamas of about 1,200 people in Israel in the militant incursion on October 7 and the Israeli military campaign, which has killed more than 11,500 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health. The letter calls for the US to push for a ceasefire and the release of hostages held by Hamas and Palestinians who the signatories say have been unjustly detained by Israel, as well as greater action generally on behalf of Gaza's civilians.
State Department officials say some expressions of dissent have reached through official channels to Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
One State Department official, 11-year veteran Josh Paul, resigned late last month to protest the administration's rush to provide arms to Israel.
Blinken addressed internal opposition to the administration's handling of the Gaza crisis in a department-wide email to staff last Monday.
" We're listening: what you share informs our policy and messaging ," he wrote.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said the dissent was welcome.
" One of the strengths of this department is that we have people with different opinions ," he said.
Unlike the dissent cables, the multi-agency open letter and another endorsed by more than 1,000 employees of the US Agency for International Development have been made public. They are also anonymous, without the names of the signatories being publicly attached./ Adapted "Pamphlet" from "Associated Press"
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