A reading of the “rebellion” of American diplomats

By Asaad Abboud

In light of the rising number of civilian casualties in the Israeli war on Gaza, defections are increasing among American employees in various government agencies concerned with foreign policy.

The New York Times published a letter from 500 American employees in which they called on President Joe Biden to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and to rein in the Israeli military campaign, in which 12,000 civilians were killed.

The message reflects a tone of dissatisfaction with the absolute support provided by President Biden to Israel, and his skepticism about the casualty figures announced by the Palestinian side, in an attempt to calm American feelings and make room for the Israeli army to achieve its goals on the ground.

What is striking about the wide range of objections among American diplomats is that they belong to the younger generation, which seems to have more courage in expressing their opinions, much more than their counterparts did in the past.

That is, the young generation of diplomats stands against giving Israel a “blank check” in Gaza, and that the policy based on senior American officials publicly supporting what they call “Israel’s right to defend itself” and secretly exerting pressure on it to exercise restraint and not go too far in the ongoing process of revenge, it is no longer useful, and it is time for Biden to explicitly call for a ceasefire.

What is notable in the objection letter is its support for the exchange of prisoners and hostages held by Hamas for Palestinians held administratively by Israel.

Is there a gap in thinking between two generations of diplomats in the United States? Perhaps this is true if we also take into account that the progressive groups in the Democratic Party also support a ceasefire in Gaza, and do not see the point in calling only for “humanitarian truces” limited in time and place, and it has been proven that they have failed to alleviate the suffering of Palestinian civilians, and have not succeeded in bringing fuel and other essential needs into Gaza's hospitals, 22 of which have stopped working out of 32, while those that are still operating will only be able to continue for a few days at most.

Even the dead have no place to bury them or there is no possibility to do so in light of the continuing bombing. This is what prompted UN Secretary-General António Guterres to call for a ceasefire "in the name of humanity."

The International Red Cross, the United Nations Office for Humanitarian Affairs, UNRWA and UNICEF, all of these organizations speak of a “horrific” situation in the Strip.

These calls for help do not seem to resonate in the White House, which still insists on “humanitarian truces,” and that the time has not yet come to call for a ceasefire. The question that has become frequently asked by supporters of stopping the war is: How many Palestinian civilians must be killed in order for the White House to be convinced of the necessity of a ceasefire?

But outside the White House, American public opinion, which in the first days of the Hamas attack last October 7 supported the war on Gaza, began to retreat and reconsider its positions, in light of the huge number of Palestinian casualties.

This is what was shown by a new poll conducted by Reuters/Ipsos and published last Wednesday, showing that about 32 percent of participants said: “The United States should support Israel,” when asked about the role their country is supposed to play in the conflict. This percentage decreased from 41 percent, which was their position in an opinion poll conducted by “Reuters/Ipsos” on October 12 and 13 of last year.

Neither the "rebellion" of diplomats nor a change in the public mood in the United States will be able to convince Biden to publicly call for a ceasefire, even though the continuation of the war in Gaza carries a great risk of expanding its scope to other fronts.