Another US official has resigned from their post over President Joe Biden’s support for the Israeli onslaught in Gaza. A dozen members of the administration have publicly resigned in protest of the White House’s assistance to Tel Aviv and signed a letter blasting the president’s policy.
Maryam Hassanein, the third political appointee to resign from the Biden administration, told the HuffPo, “I came to understand that even if the agency I’m working at is not producing foreign policy, serving in the administration in any capacity does essentially make you complicit in the genocide of the Palestinians.”
Hassanein served as special assistant to the assistant secretary for land and minerals management in the Interior Department. Aged 24, she represents large numbers of young Americans who believe Israel’s treatment of Palestinians in Gaza amounts to genocide. She was an enthusiastic Biden voter in 2020, hoping for justice for Muslims and other underrepresented groups.
“Marginalized communities in our country have long been denied the justice they deserve. I joined the Biden-Harris administration with the belief that my voice and diverse perspective would lend a hand in the pursuit of that justice,” Hassanein said. “Through their policy choices and dehumanization of Arabs and Muslims, it has become clear to me that I do not have a place in this administration.”
Over the last eight months, at least 12 US officials have resigned over Biden’s near-unconditional support for Israel. Those who have resigned in protest say most officials are quietly stepping away from the government. Josh Paul, a former State Department official who was the first to publicly resign in October, estimates there are dozens more staffers who have left over Biden’s Israel policy.
Since the war kicked off last October, the White House has sent Tel Aviv tens of thousands of bombs that have been used on civilian targets. The administration has also defended Israel against international accusations that it is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
On Tuesday, Hassanein joined the 11 other officials in publicly resigning and released a letter saying Biden is violating the Foreign Assistance Act and Leahey Laws. “It is abundantly clear that the Administration is currently willfully violating multiple US laws,” it said. “Attempting to deny or distort facts, use loopholes, or manipulate processes to ensure a continuous flow of lethal weapons to Israel.”
The letter condemned Biden’s Israel policy as a “failure and a threat to US national security. America’s diplomatic cover for, and continuous flow of arms to, Israel has ensured our undeniable complicity in the killings and forced starvation of a besieged Palestinian population in Gaza.” It added, “This is not only morally reprehensible and in clear violation of international humanitarian law and US laws, but it has also put a target on America’s back.”
