Two United States officials have stepped down, criticizing the Biden administration’s public stance on the Gaza conflict.
Alexander Smith, a seasoned contractor with the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), and Stacy Gilbert, a State Department official, expressed dissatisfaction with the handling of the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, which affects over two million Palestinians.
Smith, who specialized in gender, maternal health, child health, and nutrition at USAID, resigned while he had been preparing a presentation on maternal and child mortality among Palestinians, which was abruptly canceled by USAID just before its scheduled delivery.
“I cannot do my job in an environment in which specific people cannot be acknowledged as fully human, or where gender and human rights principles apply to some, but not to others, depending on their race,” Smith stated in his resignation letter to Samantha Power, the head of USAID.
Following Smith’s resignation, Stacy Gilbert, a State Department official associated with the Bureau of Population, refugees, and Migration, also stepped down.
Gilbert took issue with a formal State Department report that acknowledged that Israel “did not fully cooperate” initially in the Gaza war but claimed it had “significantly increased humanitarian access” more recently.
Contrary to this report, she noted in her resignation email, “In fact, after a spike in humanitarian deliveries in late April and early May, they have fallen to near zero in the weeks since.”
The departures of Smith and Gilbert increase the number of Biden administration officials who have resigned over U.S. policy on Gaza to nine.
Josh Paul, an early resigner and now a senior adviser at Dawn, a group advocating for democracy and human rights in the Middle East and North Africa, indicated more resignations could be expected.
“I’m aware that there are other resignations pending in the near future from officials with similar concerns in their own areas of work,” Paul disclosed.
This wave of resignations occurs amid worsening conditions in Gaza. A severe famine is spreading, with minimal humanitarian aid reaching the territory through Israeli-controlled land crossings.
Tensions also escalated as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu continued an offensive in Gaza’s southern city, Rafah, defying President Joe Biden’s threats to withhold arms if the offensive persisted. Samantha Power highlighted the severe impact of these operations.
“Despite currently more limited military operations around Rafah and the Egypt/Gaza border, the catastrophic consequences that we have long warned about are becoming a reality,” she noted during a donor meeting.
Despite announcing $180 million in aid for Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank since the conflict’s onset, the U.S. continues to provide Israel with more than $3 billion annually in military assistance.
Power has criticized Israel’s actions more openly than other administration members, yet Smith believes more decisive action is needed.
He stated, “Even if you’re responding to an attack, or under any circumstances, it is never legal to starve a civilian population. Everybody at the state department knows, and Samantha Power knows that.”
Smith’s resignation was precipitated by a request to modify his scheduled presentation, including the removal of slides on international humanitarian law and any implication of Palestinian statehood.
After extensive discussions and alterations, the presentation was ultimately canceled, and all mentions were removed from the conference’s agenda.
