(USNewsMag.com) – Earlier this week, over four hundred federal officials hailing from 40 government agencies and departments within President Joe Biden’s administration signed a letter declaring their opposition to how the president has been handling the conflict between Israel and Hamas and calling for a cease-fire.
Signatories to the letter include government officials from the White House, the National Security Council, the Department of Justice, and the State Department. All of them decided to remain anonymous to avoid professional retaliation, considering the polarizing effects of the ongoing Middle Eastern conflict.
The letter calls on Biden “to urgently demand a cease-fire” from Israel and for the “de-escalation” of the conflict by making sure “Israeli hostages” and “detained Palestinians” are released. The letter also calls for restoring “water, fuel, electricity, and other basic services” to the Gaza Strip and making sure “adequate humanitarian aid” is provided to assist in recovery.
Even though most Democrats seem to lean toward this position, Biden has gone against the grain of his party, trying to maintain a middle-of-the-road position that will please Israel and their allies while also appeasing his own party members advocating for the Palestinian people.
The president, along with other Western leaders, has continued to push back on a cease-fire. They argue that Israel backing off will only benefit the radical militant Palestinian group Hamas, which controls the Palestinian territories and also launched an attack on Israel in October that killed around 1,400 people. Since Israel’s military retaliation to weed out the terrorist organization and neutralize them as a threat, over 10,000 Palestinians have died in the conflict.
Rather than a cease-fire, the Biden administration has only gone as far as calling for a humanitarian pause between the two sides so aid can be provided and hostages secured, which the Israeli government agrees with.
Even Republicans cannot agree on an appropriate response, although more tend to support Israel while others are asking questions about whether or not the US should be sending them any more money. And although most Democrats lean pro-Palestinian and support a cease-fire, not all of them do. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, for example, completely supports Israel’s “right to defend itself,” taking a harder stance than Biden.
Copyright 2023, USNewsMag.com
