Hala Rharrit on Quitting State Dept. & Ending U.S. Complicity in Gaza
www.democracynow.org
As human rights groups continue to call out war crimes committed by the Israeli military, we speak to the only U.S. diplomat to publicly resign from the Biden administration over its policy on Israel. We first spoke to Hala Rharrit when she resigned from the State Department in April, citing the illegal and deceptive nature of U.S. policy in the Middle East. “We continue to willfully violate laws so that we surge U.S. military assistance to Israel,” she says after more than a year of Israel’s war on Gaza. Rharrit says she found the Biden administration unmovable in its “counterproductive policy,” which she believes has gravely harmed U.S. interests in the Middle East. “We are going to feel the repercussions of that for years, decades, generations.”

As human rights groups continue to call out war crimes committed by the Israeli military, we speak to the only U.S. diplomat to publicly resign from the Biden administration over its policy on Israel.

We first spoke to Hala Rharrit when she resigned from the State Department in April, citing the illegal and deceptive nature of U.S. policy in the Middle East. “We continue to willfully violate laws so that we surge U.S. military assistance to Israel,” she says after more than a year of Israel’s war on Gaza.

Rharrit says she found the Biden administration unmovable in its “counterproductive policy,” which she believes has gravely harmed U.S. interests in the Middle East. “We are going to feel the repercussions of that for years, decades, generations.”

    • Maggoty@lemmy.world
      1·
      23 days ago

      Then why include that they’re veterans? That’d be like me saying I saw four people, all black, discussing how they were going illegally pass water out in the voting line.

      Including that bit doesn’t give us any more relevant information. Unless of course I’m trying to push an opinion about black people.

      Edit - but->bit

      • Blackbeard@lemmy.worldMEnglish
        1·
        23 days ago

        Polite conversation not your strong suit? I don’t have an axe to grind here, dude, just making small talk.

          • Blackbeard@lemmy.worldMEnglish
            1·
            23 days ago

            Then offer your opinion about how a military operation looks to you. I was literally at a charity even for veterans and overheard a group of people talking who I don’t usually hear from. And they didn’t know I was listening, so they were transparently honest about how it looks to them. It startled me because it was a wildly different framing than I was familiar with. So when the person asked what exactly is going on beneath the surface, I offered an anecdote that was timely and relevant.

            Don’t take everything so personally.

            • Maggoty@lemmy.world
              1·
              23 days ago

              Sure, you take it objectively when everyone wants to pre-emptively lump you in with a bunch of traitors.

              Israel is a rogue state going for the record on how many war crimes can they commit against a resistance movement they spawned with previous war crimes.

              • Blackbeard@lemmy.worldMEnglish
                1·
                23 days ago

                Damn, dude, take a deep breath. I didn’t lump you in with anything, infer you’re lumped in with anything, or disparage veterans in any way, shape, form, or fashion. I didn’t even know you existed until this very conversation. Talk about wildly disproportionate blowback.

                Go tell the person who asked what’s actually going on, not me. I don’t agree with the people I overheard, I’m just the messenger and responded to that person’s question because they sounded curious.