The world has seen almost eight months now of Israel’s horrific genocide in Gaza. Revcom.us has extensively covered these massive crimes against humanity, including the latest developments here. As this genocide continues and even escalates, several officials who have been part of the institutions of the U.S. government—which has backed, funded, and covered for Israel’s massive war crimes—announced their resignations in recent weeks, joining a number of others over the past months. 

Stacy Gilbert: “I was shocked”

Stacy Gilbert was an official in the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration and had worked in the government for many years on issues relating to refugees and humanitarian crises. She was part of a team working closely on the May 10 report to Congress issued by the State Department and the Department of Defense that admitted Israel may have committed war crimes but, outrageously, also claimed Israel had not broken international law by obstructing the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza. Biden used this report to justify proceeding with billions of dollars in further military aid to Israel. 

Gilbert resigned in protest, saying, “There is so clearly a right and wrong, and what is in that report is wrong."

Gilbert said in an interview with Democracy Now! that even though she and her team had been shut out of the final stages of the report, which was finished up by higher-level officials, she was “hopeful that it would be an honest report.” But when the report actually came out and she read the final version for the first time, she was “shocked” by its conclusion that “Israel is not blocking humanitarian assistance.” She noted, “That is not the view of subject matter experts at the State Department, at USAID, nor among the humanitarian community. And that was known—that was absolutely known to the administration for a very long time, not just within the government, but having received reports and letters from organizations on the ground in Gaza, organizations the U.S. government funds, credible organizations, saying Israel is blocking humanitarian assistance.”

And what is the result of that obstruction? As Gilbert states bluntly: famine. She points out that “for people who are experiencing that extreme state of malnutrition, that requires an immediate, intensive medical intervention. And where are you going to find that in a country now where the hospitals have been destroyed? For the people who have reached that stage, it’s too late—and any effort to bring in more food is absolutely necessary, but anything that comes in now is, it’s too little too late. And the reason we’ve come to this point is because of Israel’s obstruction.”

Alexander Smith: “I cannot do my job in an environment in which specific people cannot be acknowledged as fully human…”

Alexander Smith, a senior adviser on gender, maternal health, child health, and nutrition, was a contractor for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) for four years. In May, he had been slated to present a paper and a slide show at a USAID conference on “Global Gender Equality.” But just a few days before the conference, USAID officials told Smith he had to make some edits. According to the Guardian, Smith said “those edits included removing a slide outlining applicable international humanitarian law, and any language implying recognition of a Palestinian state, including references to agencies which have Palestine in their title, like the UN Family Planning Association (UNFPA) Palestine.” Smith said he was willing to make some edits, but then his presentation was cancelled altogether. 

Smith said he was given a choice between being fired or resigning. He chose to resign, writing in his resignation letter, “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.” 

Lily Greenberg Call: “I can no longer, in good conscience, continue to represent this administration amidst President Biden’s disastrous, continued support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza”

Lily Greenberg Call was a special assistant to the chief of staff for Biden’s Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland. In the 2020 elections, she had worked on the campaigns for Kamala Harris and Joe Biden. She is the first known Jewish appointee in the Biden administration to resign over the genocide in Gaza. 

In her May 15 resignation letter, Call wrote that she joined the Biden administration “because I believe in fighting for a better America, for a future where Americans can thrive: one with economic prosperity, a healthy planet and equal rights for all people…. However, I can no longer, in good conscience, continue to represent this administration amidst President Biden’s disastrous, continued support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza.”

Call wrote, “People in my community lost loved ones during Hamas’ attack on October 7th, beloveds killed, displaced and taken as hostages. I am terrified by rising antisemitism around the world. And yet I am certain that the answer to this is not to collectively punish millions of innocent Palestinians through displacement, famine and ethnic cleansing.

“What I have learned from Jewish tradition is that every life is precious. That we are obligated to stand up for those facing violence and oppression, and to question authority in the face of injustice.”

In an interview with Democracy Now, Lily Greenberg Call said, “I am so angry at the president that he is using my community as justification for this slaughter, making us the face of the American war machine.”

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It is very significant that these people and others who were part of the machinery of the government that is behind Israel’s genocidal slaughter in Gaza took the stands and actions they did. But as Josh Paul, a former State Department official who, in October, became the first administration official to resign in protest over the genocide in Gaza, pointed out, there are others who are still part of those institutions: “…there are people signing off on arms transfers, people drafting arms transfer approval memos… people in meetings with the Secretary, with Assistant Secretaries, with Deputy Assistant Secretaries, who could be speaking up, people who have an immense responsibility to do good, and a lifelong commitment to human rights—whose choice is to let the bureaucracy function as though it were business as usual.”

As Annie Day said, speaking to those who are working in the institutions of the U.S. government: “…think about what you are part of. And in the face of this genocide, think about what it means to have the courage and humanity, and act in line, with your moral compass.” (From a video segment on The RNL—Revolution, Nothing Less!—Show, "A Question to All Those Who Are Part of the U.S. Government’s Institutions")