US State Department officer leaves position due to "continued lethal support to Israel"

 US State Department officer leaves position due to "continued lethal support to Israel"

"Due to a policy disagreement regarding our continued lethal assistance to Israel," a US State Department official has quit his position.

Josh Paul, who was listed as a former director at the Department on his LinkedIn profile, said on Wednesday: "Today I informedmy colleagues that I had resigned from the State Department, because to a policy disagreement about our continuedlethalassistance to Israel.

I'd want to be clear. The assault by Hamas on Israel was a monster of monstrosities, not simply a monstrosity. Additionally, I think that any future escalation by Iran, Hezbollah, or other parties connected to Iran would be a further cynical exploitation of the current tragedy.

But I firmly believe that the course of action Israel is taking, along with American support for it and the ongoing occupation, will only result in greater and more lasting suffering for both the Israeli and Palestinian populations, and that this is not in the long-term interests of the United States.

"The answer from this administration, as well as a large portion of Congress, is a hasty response based on confirmation bias, political expediency, intellectual bankruptcy, and institutional inertia. That is to say, it is utterly predictable and very disappointing.

"Decades of the same strategy have shown that sacrificing security for peace does not produce either security or peace. The long-term interests of the people on both sides are harmed by uncritical support for one side.

The State Department's spokesman Matt Miller responded to Paul's resignation on Thursday by saying that "we understand, we expect, whereas we appreciate that numerous individuals working in this department have opposing political views, have different personal beliefs, along with different beliefs concerning what the US policy should be."

Regarding this particular complaint that has been voiced, we have made it quite clear that we firmly support Israel's right to self-defense. We'll keep giving them the security support they need to protect themselves.

We believe that they have a responsibility—not a right—to protect themselves against these terrorist assaults, as I believe any nation would. However, the President and the Secretary have made it very clear that they want Israel to uphold all international law while defending itself, the official told CNN.