US military officer Major Harrison Mann resigns due to American support for Israel
A Defense Intelligence Agency military officer has resigned from his post in protest of America’s support for Israel during its campaign against Hamas in Gaza, as anti-conflict sentiment mounts within the Biden administration and across the country.
Army Maj. Harrison Mann, a Middle East analyst, posted on LinkedIn on Monday that he would resign over the administration’s support for the war in Gaza. The Military Intelligence Agency collects and analyses intelligence on foreign militaries, including the armies of Israel and Hamas.
Biden administration officials have resigned in protest of the war, and an army recruit set himself on fire in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington this spring. Still, Man, a mid-ranking army officer, is the first military officer known to have cited US support for the Israeli war as a reason for resignation.
This office communicates policy and facilitates and sometimes directly implements policy,” Mann posted on LinkedIn, referring to the DIA Analysis Office where he works. “The policy that has not been far from my mind over the past six months is the almost absolute support for the government of Israel, which has enabled the killing and starvation of tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians.”
Mann said that he submitted his papers to resign from the army in November. Still, his frustration with this policy increased as Israel prepared to launch a significant attack on the city of Rafah in southern Gaza. In his resignation letter, he said that his views were informed by his being a descendant of European Jews.
The DIA, the Pentagon, and the Army had no immediate comment. Mann, who was contacted via text message, confirmed that he was the author of the LinkedIn post.
Several US State Department officials resigned over the war in Gaza, including Anelle Shlein, who said she was “unable to serve an administration that allows such atrocities” in Gaza. Shline wrote in an article that many of her colleagues privately share her concerns.
Hala Rarity was the first known diplomat to resign over the war. Rarette, who worked for 18 years in the State Department, said she believes the US approach will lead to a decline in its standing in the Middle East for years.
Another US State Department official, Josh Paul, resigned in October over concerns about US military aid to Israel in the wake of the Hamas attack in Gaza. Paul, who headed public and congressional affairs in the office that handles arms sales, wrote in a two-page letter posted on LinkedIn that he was concerned about the United States continuing to supply weapons to Israel.
I am leaving today because I believe that on our current course of continuing — and even expanding and accelerating — the provision of lethal weapons to Israel, I have reached the end of that bargain,” he wrote.
In February, an active-duty US Air Force member set himself on fire outside the Israeli Embassy in Washington in what he described on social media as a war protest. The pilot, Aaron Bushnell, 25, later died of his injuries at a nearby hospital.
