Above photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images.
Staffers dissent against Biden’s ‘legacy of horror’ in Gaza.
New internal dissent letters are again blasting Washington for its unwavering support of the Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
The US government is lobbying Democratic senators to vote against legislation that would halt $20 billion worth of arms sales to Israel, according to US officials who spoke with the Times of Israel on 20 November.
“Biden aides have argued that the weapons in question are essential for Israel’s defense and won’t be delivered for another year or two, ‘so the likelihood of them being used in this iteration of the Gaza context is very low,’” the Israeli daily cites the sources as saying, adding that officials from the White House, State Department, and Pentagon have reached out to “various lawmakers on the fence about how they might vote.”
Democratic Senator Bernie Sanders introduced the Joint Resolutions of Disapproval, citing Washington’s continued violations of US law that prohibit the transfer of weapons to governments committing human rights violations. Six other senators publicly backed the resolutions: Jeff Merkley, Brian Schatz, Elizabeth Warren, Peter Welch, Chris Van Hollen, and Bernie Sanders.
US senators are expected to vote on the legislation on Wednesday.
The White House’s latest move to protect US arms transfers to Israel comes on the heels of new internal government dissent letters criticizing President Joe Biden’s unwavering support for the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza.
“You are running out of time to do the right thing, but decisive action could save precious lives in the next two months,” reads the letter, according to Politico. Twenty “current, full-time employees of the White House” drafted the letter.
“One thing that drew me into this was legacy,” a senior White House staffer told the DC-based publication. “If the course is continued, it will be a legacy of horror.”
“I felt like I needed to do something, as an act of trying to get to the straw that breaks the camel’s back – even if this isn’t it,” another staffer told The Intercept.
Internal discontent in the US government has been brewing over the past year as Israel continues to use US weapons to kill Palestinian and Lebanese civilians with no regard for international law.
Last week, the US State Department and the Pentagon walked back threats to take “concrete measures” against Israel for blocking the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza and declined to make a finding that the Israeli government violated its legal obligations.