- A US State Department official resigned because of President Joe Biden's "blind" support for Israel.
- Josh Paul, director of the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, justified his decision in a letter.
A US State Department official overseeing arms transfers resigned in response to President Joe Biden's "blind" decision to keep supplying Israel with weapons as it imposes a siege on Gaza as part of its war with Hamas.
Josh Paul, who served as the director of congressional and public affairs for the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs of the State Department for more than 11 years, explained the reasons for his resignation in a letter published on his LinkedIn page on October 18.
Paul said that the Biden administration's "blind support for one side" was leading to policy decisions that were "shortsighted, destructive, unjust, and contradictory to the very values we publicly espouse."
He added: "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".
"I fear we are repeating the same mistakes we have made these past decades, and I decline to be a part of it for longer," he said.
Paul did not give specifics about what he meant by the US' "past mistakes".
More than 1,300 Israelis died in Hamas' terrorist attacks on October 7, the Israel Defense Forces said. Over 3,000 Palestinians have died in Gaza during Israel's retaliatory strikes, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
The US government has given Israel more aid than any other foreign country over the last nearly 75 years, according to the non-partisan think tank the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
The Biden Administration is now working on a $100 billion foreign aid package that will include help for Israel as well as other priority security concerns, two aides familiar with the plan told ABC News.
While Paul acknowledged there is a "great need" for American arms and defense assistance across the world, he said the Biden administration cannot be "both for and against" the occupation of Gaza.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said on Tuesday that the Israeli government's decision to evacuate the northern part of the enclave and its siege of Gaza constituted a forceful transfer of residents in violation of international law.
In an interview with The New York Times, Paul said the Biden administration cannot let American weapons fall into the hands of human rights violators.
Paul condemned Hamas' attack on Israel in the strongest terms, calling it a "monstrosity". But he insisted that, as third parties in this conflict, the US should not side with the "combatants" but rather the people "caught in the middle."