By Daphné Psaledakis and Humeyra Pamuk
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A U.S. State Department official who resigned this week said on Thursday that her resignation was precipitated by an administration report to Congress that said she falsely stated that Israel was not blocking the humanitarian aid to Gaza, prompting him to resign in protest against President Joe. Biden’s Israel policy.
Stacy Gilbert, who worked in the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration, was a subject matter expert who worked on the report.
“There is clearly a difference between right and wrong, and what is contained in this report is wrong,” Gilbert said in an interview.
The United Nations and humanitarian groups have long complained about the dangers and obstacles of delivering aid and distributing it throughout Gaza.
As the Palestinian death toll in Gaza has surpassed 36,000 and a humanitarian crisis has engulfed the enclave, human rights groups and other critics have criticized the United States for providing arms to Israel and to broadly defend Israel’s conduct.
The State Department submitted the 46-page unclassified report to Congress earlier this month, as required by the new national security memorandum issued by Biden in early February.
Among other findings, the report said that in the period after October 7, Israel “did not fully cooperate” with U.S. and other efforts to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza.
But he added that this did not constitute a violation of a U.S. law that blocks the supply of weapons to countries that restrict U.S. humanitarian aid.
Gilbert, who worked for the State Department for more than 20 years, said she informed her office the day the State Department report was released that she would resign. His last day was Tuesday.
U.S. State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters Thursday that he would not comment on personnel matters but that the department welcomes diverse viewpoints.
He said the administration stands by the report and continues to pressure the Israeli government to avoid harm to civilians and urgently expand humanitarian access to Gaza.
“We are not an administration that distorts facts, and the allegations we have are unfounded,” Patel said.
The Israeli embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Gilbert’s accusations.
Gilbert’s office was one of four that contributed to an initial classified options memo, reported exclusively by Reuters in late April, that informed U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken that Israel may be violating international humanitarian law.
Gilbert said the State Department pulled subject matter experts from working on the report to Congress when the document was only a draft about 10 days before its deadline. She said the report was then edited by higher officials.
Contrary to the published version, the last draft she saw indicated that Israel was blocking humanitarian aid, Gilbert said.
Officials who resigned before Gilbert included Arabic-speaking spokeswoman Hala Rharrit and Annelle Sheline of the human rights office.
More than 36,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s air and ground war in Gaza. Israel launched its offensive after Hamas fighters crossed the border from Gaza into southern Israel on October 7 last year, killing 1,200 people and kidnapping more than 250, according to Israeli counts.
(Reporting by Daphne Psaledakis and Humeyra Pamuk; additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick and Kanishka Singh; editing by Don Durfee and Cynthia Osterman)
yahoo
