A US state department official working on global arms transfers has resigned, citing his opposition to the Biden administration’s decision to continue military assistance to Israel.
In a letter posted on LinkedIn, Josh Paul said that when he had joined the bureau of political-military affairs more than 11 years ago, he had made a promise to himself that he would stay “as long as I felt the harm I might do could be outweighed by the good I could do.” He wrote:
I am leaving today because I believe that in our current course with regards to the continued — indeed, expanded and expedited — provision of lethal arms to Israel — I have reached the end of that bargain.
He described the attack by Hamas on Israel on 7 October as “not just a monstrosity; it was a monstrosity of monstrosities”.
But I believe to the core of my soul that the response Israel is taking, and with it the American support both for that response, and for the status quo of the occupation, will only lead to more and deeper suffering for both the Israeli and the Palestinian people – and is not in the long term American interest.
Paul said that he could not work to support a set of policy decisions that include “rushing more arms to one side of the conflict”, which he believes to be “shortsighted, destructive, unjust, and contradictory to the very values that we publicly espouse.”
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