Since Israel’s onslaught on Gaza began in October 2023, a growing number of US government employees have resigned over the Biden administration’s financial, military, and diplomatic support for Tel Aviv. In April, Hala Rharrit became the first to resign from the State Department’s Foreign Service. The 18-year career diplomat held several positions over the years, including most recently as the Arabic language spokesperson from Dubai.
After months of trying to effect change from within to no avail, Rharrit decided to leave her post. Senior diplomats tried to persuade her to stay on, emphasising that the Biden administration needed to hear from her about the emerging reality in the region: growing anti-Americanism due to the White House’s unequivocal support for Israel in its war on Gaza.
Rharrit says that even America’s closest allies in the region have become increasingly disillusioned with the lofty ideals of human rights that America claims to stand for.
American complicity
For months, she documented images and videos that pointed to American complicity in Israel’s war crimes in Gaza and sent them to the White House. They showed dead Palestinian civilians—many of whom were children—killed by 2,000-pound American-made bombs.
In an interview with Al Majalla, she explained how—from the beginning of Israel’s war on Gaza in October—she was warning US officials about how its policy of iron-clad support for Israel was hurting America.
“My message was consistent from the beginning: This is a policy that is hurting the United States—it is not just Israel that is being blamed for the death toll in Gaza,” she said.
Watch the full interview above
But her feedback fell on deaf ears, even when it had serious security implications. In January, three US soldiers were killed in Jordan in a drone attack, which the US government attributed to Iranian-backed groups. On another occasion, US personnel had to evacuate from the Baghdad embassy. In addition to the dangerous security consequences, she cited an unprecedented number of people in the region who no longer wanted to do business with America or send their children to the US for their higher education.
Rharrit joins a growing group of American civil servants who share her disagreement and dissent on US policy toward Gaza. Some have quit, but many more who cannot leave their jobs due to personal circumstances say they are extremely distraught over the Biden administration’s stance over the past eight months.
Sidelined and silenced
Despite all her efforts to make a difference, she said she was repeatedly “sidelined and silenced from the top.” Unlike other foreign policy issues, in which diplomats and other government employees are consulted, this particular issue (US support for Israel) comes straight from the highest echelons of government.
Rharrit believes three key factors explain US President Joe Biden’s unequivocal support for Israel. The first factor is ideology: Biden is a self-proclaimed Zionist. The second is the arms industry's influence on politicians on both sides of the political aisle receiving campaign contributions. The third—in blunt terms—is racism, which manifests in a policy whereby senior officials insist on continuing weapons flow despite over 15,000 Palestinian children killed, with some being burned alive in refugee tents.
“I saw it very clearly in the talking points, in the policy, that a Palestinian life was not valued the same way that an Israeli life was; that Palestinian children were not valued the same way that Ukrainian children were,” she said.
