US interior department staffer is first Jewish Biden appointee to resign over war in Gaza
Leila Greenberg Cole, Special Assistant to the Chief of Staff of the US Department of the Interior, announced her resignation from her position, expressing her inability to work for President Joe Biden’s administration in light of his continued support for the bloody Israeli war on the besieged Gaza Strip.
The resignation of Cole, who is of Jewish descent, caused widespread uproar and highlighted the divisions within the Democratic Party regarding American policy towards Israel and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Background and motivations:
Cole is the first Jewish appointee to resign over Biden’s unconditional support for Israel publicly. In her resignation letter, Cole said: I cannot in good conscience continue to represent this administration in light of President Biden’s continued disastrous support for the Israeli genocide in Gaza.
She continued, referring to her position as an appointed employee in a presidential administration: This is the story of many members of my community… a tale of survival, upward mobility, and the fulfilment of the American dream, but I have asked myself repeatedly over the past eight months: What is the point of having power if you do not use it to stop crimes?” against humanity?”.
Greenberg Cole explained:
In a press interview, Cole explained that resigning was difficult for her because of her upbringing in a Jewish community. However, she said that the Jewish values she was raised with for 20 years led her to this decision.
She added: My religion and my Jewish identity are the essential part of my personality, and it is all the values I was raised with, and all my Jewish education for 20 years, is what brought me to this decision, and it is what makes me know that it is the right thing.
She continued: What Israel is doing to the people in Gaza and to the Palestinians throughout the territories is ‘un-Jewish’ to me and constitutes a disgrace to our ancestors.
Cole turned away from supporting Israel:
Greenberg-Cole graduated from UC Berkeley in 2019 and was president of a group affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC). She said she grew up attending student events organized by that group.
In an article in Teen Vogue magazine two years ago, she said that after she got to know more Palestinians, she began to question AIPAC and its mission of ensuring unconditional American support for Israel.
During her resignation letter on Wednesday, Greenberg Cole noted that the United States enabled “Israeli war crimes and the existing apartheid and occupation situation,” stressing that such policies do not protect Israelis or Jews.
The president has the authority to call for a permanent ceasefire, stop sending weapons to Israel, and impose conditions on aid,” Cole wrote. The United States has used little of its influence over the past eight months to hold Israel accountable.
On the contrary, we have enabled and legitimized Israel’s actions by blocking UN resolutions designed to hold it accountable, she added.
Israel comment:
Israel vehemently denies that its military actions in Gaza, which resulted in the martyrdom of more than 35,000 Palestinians and the almost complete displacement of the Strip’s population of about 2 million people, amount to genocide and justifies its bloody attack by saying it was defending itself after the Al-Aqsa flood attack on July 7. Last October, about 250 people were detained, in addition to 1,200 killed.
Democratic divisions:
An increasing number of Democratic Party members are calling on Biden to suspend US military aid to Israel or at least impose conditions on it.
This comes in light of the enormous human losses resulting from the war and the ongoing siege on Gaza, in addition to the collapse of the health system in the Strip and the widespread spread of hunger and diseases among its population.
