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Politico: State Department officials sharply criticized the Biden administration’s handling of the war between Israel and Hamas in a memo obtained by POLITICO from anonymous sources. The document gives a glimpse of the internal fury at the State Department over President Joe Biden’s Middle East policy.
The message reflects the sentiments of many U.S. diplomats, especially mid- and lower-level ones. The memo contains two key demands: a cease-fire, and a balance of private and public remarks about Israel, including criticism of Israeli military tactics and treatment of Palestinians that the U.S. usually prefers to keep private. The disconnect between America’s private and public statements “contributes to the perception among regional publics that the United States is a biased and dishonest player, which at best does not help and at worst harms U.S. interests around the world,” the document notes.
The paper acknowledges that Israel has a “legitimate right and obligation” to seek justice against Palestinian Hamas militants who killed some 1,400 Israelis in a shocking Oct. 7 attack. But it is argued that “the scale of the human cost to date is unacceptable” – referring to the thousands of Palestinians, mostly civilians and children, killed by Israel in the days since. The “U.S. tolerance of such a high number of civilian casualties” raises doubts about the correctness of the rules-based international order we have long defended,” the memorandum emphasizes.
The entire article can be read at the link https://www.politico.com/news/2023/11/06/u-s-diplomats-slam-israel-policy-in-leaked-memo-00125538
