Comment on this storyCommentAdd to your saved storiesSave
A political appointee at the Education Ministry announced his resignation Wednesday over the president's stance on the Israel-Gaza war. This marked the second public resignation over an issue that has deeply divided the Biden administration.
Tariq Habash, a special assistant who focused primarily on student loan issues and volunteered for Biden's 2020 presidential campaign, did not work on foreign policy issues. Still, his resignation is notable because the administration – which has received several dissenting memos and open letters calling on the White House to rein in the Israeli government – has suffered few resignations due to the war.
“I cannot represent a government that does not value every human life equally. “I cannot remain silent as this administration turns a blind eye to the atrocities being committed against innocent Palestinian lives in what leading human rights experts call the Israeli government’s genocidal campaign,” wrote Habash, who is Palestinian American and served in the government for nearly three Years.
“I cannot be tacitly complicit when this government fails to use its influence as Israel’s strongest ally to stop the abusive and persistent collective punishment tactics that are depriving Palestinians in Gaza of food, water, electricity, fuel and medical supplies cut off, leading to widespread injury, disease and starvation,” Habash wrote.
Israel and its supporters strongly deny that its military campaign is “genocidal” and claim the large number of deaths is partly due to Hamas's practice of embedding its fighters among civilians.
The only other Biden administration official to have publicly resigned so far over Biden's support of Israel is Josh Paul, who worked on arms transfers to foreign powers as director of congressional and public affairs in the State Department's Office of Political-Military Affairs. Paul, who resigned in October, was a career civil servant who served in the role for more than 11 years. Habash is the first political appointee to resign over the president's Israel policy.
Biden's unwavering support of Israel after Hamas militants killed 1,200 Israelis and took about 230 hostage on Oct. 7 has roiled his administration like no other issue during his presidency. Biden has continued to support Israel and resist calls for a ceasefire as its retaliatory campaign in Gaza has killed more than 22,000 Palestinians, displaced more than 80 percent of the population and caused a humanitarian disaster in the densely populated enclave.
The president and his supporters argue that Israel had no choice but to destroy Hamas after the horrific attacks and that civilian casualties occurred despite Israel's efforts to avoid them. But a growing number of officials at all levels within the administration are upset and angry about the sheer number of Palestinian deaths, including thousands of children, although few are publicly voicing their concerns.
In an interview, Habash pointed to repeated U.S. vetoes of United Nations resolutions calling for a ceasefire, and he denounced that “collective punishment” of Palestinians played a major role in his decision to resign.
This policy “makes it untenable for me to stay because it means that my government, the government I represented, does not see me and millions of Americans who look like me as human beings.” This dehumanization is for so many “It’s a personal matter for us,” Habash said. “I felt compelled to do everything I could to raise the alarm about what I believed to be wrong policies that were making the world less safe and destroying the lives of millions of people.”
In his letter, Habash said that as a Palestinian American, he brought “a critical and underrepresented perspective to the ongoing work toward equality and justice.” He pointed to his family's Palestinian Christian roots and their displacement following the creation of Israel in 1948 during what Palestinians call the “Nakba,” or catastrophe.
“Over the past three years, the White House has issued numerous press releases pointing out that this is the most diverse administration in history and that it reflects America. I am part of this America,” Habash wrote.
Habash also said Biden's policies jeopardize his re-election – and with it the future of American democracy – because so many Democratic voters, including young voters, disapprove of his handling of the war.
Asked whether he would support Biden in November, Habash said: “He can decide whether he wants to fight for my vote and the voice of millions of Americans who stand for peace, an immediate end to violence and equal rights for all civilians.” , including….”Palestinian.”