Gaza and the Dissent Channel

As this war drags on, it seems likely that there will be more resignations and more dissents from within the administration itself.

Akbar Shahid Ahmed reports on a growing “mutiny” inside the State Department over the Biden administration’s handling of the war in Gaza:

Officials told HuffPost that Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his most senior advisers are overlooking widespread internal frustration. Some department staff said they feel as if Blinken and his team are uninterested in their own experts’ advice as they focus on supporting Israel’s expanding operation in Gaza, where the Palestinian militant group Hamas is based.

“There’s basically a mutiny brewing within State at all levels,” one State Department official said.

The frustration with a one-sided, short-sighted approach is understandable. When the leadership is instructing department officials not to talk about ceasefires and de-escalation when ceasefires and de-escalation are most urgently needed, it is no surprise that many people in the department would be disgusted and demoralized. Many are reportedly considering following the example of Josh Paul, who resigned this week in protest over the administration’s response to the war.

According to the report, some officials are working on a dissent cable to explain their objections to the current policy.