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Staff From US Agencies, Congress Join 'Day of Mourning' for Gaza
Feds United for Peace aimed to "convey to our leadership that the current policy on Israel and Gaza is counter to our national interests... and it does not represent the broad will of the American people."
Jan 16, 2024
Employees at over two dozen U.S. departments and federal agencies as well as congressional staffers participated in a "Day of Mourning" on Tuesday, declining to work in the wake of the 100th day of Israel's war on the Gaza Strip.
U.S. President Joe Biden and other leaders in his administration have faced mounting outrage from government employees, the American public, and the international community for supporting the Israeli bombardment and siege that has killed over 24,000 Palestinians in Gaza.
It's now been 102 days since the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel sparked a retaliatory war that a growing number of experts and groups are calling "genocidal." In addition to the rising death toll, tens of thousands of Palestinians have been wounded, about 90% of Gaza's 2.3 million residents are displaced, and children are dying of starvation.
Feds United for Peace, which organized Tuesday's initiative, explained in an email to Common Dreams that "this Day of Mourning was not just for government employees in Washington but for federal employees across the country."
"Despite the closure of federal offices in Washington because of the weather, many employees eligible for telework still participated," the group said. "We do not have a final figure to share, but the number of agencies represented speaks for itself."
"We feel a responsibility and a moral obligation to speak up when our country's leaders are choosing to pursue policies that are hurting America."
There were participants across the departments of Commerce, Defense, Energy, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Labor, State, and Veterans Affairs, as well as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Environmental Protection Agency, Executive Office of the President, Federal Aviation Administration, Food and Drug Administration, and Internal Revenue Service, according to organizers.
Others joined from the National Labor Relations Board, National Park Service, National Security Agency, National Science Foundation, Naval Research Laboratory, Patent and Trademark Office, Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Office of Personnel Management, Social Security Administration, Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, United States Agency for International Development, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
The Day of Mourning—exclusively previewed by Al-Monitor—went ahead despite a threat from far-right U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who said Sunday that "any government worker who walks off the job to protest U.S. support for our ally Israel is ignoring their responsibility and abusing the trust of taxpayers. They deserve to be fired."
Johnson pledged that he and House Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) "will be working together to ensure that each federal agency initiates appropriate disciplinary proceedings against any person who walks out on their job."
Feds United for Peace told Common Dreams, "We want to emphasize that the Day of Mourning was not a strike or a walkout."
"The purpose of this Day of Mourning was to convey to our leadership that the current policy on Israel and Gaza is counter to our national interests both at home and abroad," the group said. "It is counter to our values, and it does not represent the broad will of the American people."
"We are not activists, we are government employees who love our country and love what America stands for," the group added. "It is precisely because of this deep sense of patriotism that we feel a responsibility and a moral obligation to speak up when our country's leaders are choosing to pursue policies that are hurting America."
According to an organizer with Congressional Staff for a Cease-Fire Now—which held a November vigil at the U.S. Capitol—some staffers of federal lawmakers also took leave on Tuesday "for recognition of the solemn day," even though some members of Congress, including progressives calling for a cease-fire in Gaza, "aren't necessarily supportive of staff lending their own voice to the movement."
"It is inspiring to see that this many different staffers across our government are willing to speak up and raise their voices and say that enough is enough," the organizer told Common Dreams in an interview, noting actions from White House interns, congressional staffers, and others opposed to ongoing U.S. support for Israel's assault on Gaza.
"President Biden and our congressional leaders are out of touch with where the American people are. And frankly, they're not the ones that engage them on a daily basis."
At least two Biden administration officials have resigned in protest since October—Tariq Habash, a former policy adviser in the Education Department's Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development, and Josh Paul, ex-director of congressional and public affairs for the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs.
"We have seen organizers and advocates in the administration and in Congress who are Israeli and Palestinian, who are Jewish and Muslim, who are every identity under the sun demanding a cease-fire now," said the Congressional Staff for a Cease-Fire Now organizer. "President Biden and our congressional leaders are out of touch with where the American people are. And frankly, they're not the ones that engage them on a daily basis."
"We are the ones that hear from them," the staffer said of constituents calling for a cease-fire. "We... pick up their calls, answer their emails, see their posts, and we can see what they are demanding, what they are insisting, what they want to see happen. And if these members of Congress are not willing to get in line with what the American people want, then they don't deserve to represent them in the halls of Congress."
"So we need to continue speaking up. And I think the more time that goes on, the more and more people we see speaking out and feeling comfortable and confident in doing so, when we are threatened by the speaker of the House, it doesn't make us silent," the organizer added. "It makes us bolder, it makes us louder because we aren't going to be silenced. We're on the right side of history. We're not going to let them stamp out this fire in our movement because we can't afford to let that fire be put out."
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100+ Congressional Staffers Stage Walkout Demanding Their Bosses Back Gaza Cease-Fire
"We demand our leaders speak up: Call for a cease-fire, a release of all hostages, and an immediate de-escalation now."
Nov 08, 2023
More than 100 U.S. congressional staffers walked off the job Wednesday afternoon to hold a vigil for the more than 10,000 Palestinians killed by Israeli forces over the past month and to demand their bosses listen to constituents and support an immediate Gaza cease-fire.
“We are congressional staffers on Capitol Hill, and we are no longer comfortable being silent," one legislative employee declared.
"We were horrified by the brutal October 7th attacks on Israeli civilians, and we are horrified by the overwhelming response by the Israeli government that has killed thousands of innocent Palestinian civilians in Gaza," said another. "Our constituents are pleading for a cease-fire, and we are the staffers answering their calls every day."
"Most of our bosses on Capitol Hill are not listening to the people they represent," added a third. "We demand our leaders speak up: Call for a cease-fire, a release of all hostages, and an immediate deescalation now."
The staffers then observed a moment of silence and interfaith prayer to remember "those we have lost" while the three speakers laid down flowers in honor of the more than 1,500 Israelis and 10,000 Palestinians killed during the war.
Wednesday's walkout follows the publication last month of an open letterfrom hundreds of Muslim and Jewish congressional staffers urging lawmakers to demand a cease-fire in Gaza.
Just 18 House Democrats are sponsoring a resolution introduced last month by Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) urging President Joe Biden to push Israel for an immediate cease-fire. Several others, including Reps. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), Joaquin Castro (D-Texas), Veronica Escobar (D-Texas), and Maxine Waters (D-Calif.) have separately called for a cease-fire.
In the Senate, 13 lawmakers—Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Tim Kaine (D-Va.), Mark Warner (D-Va.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), Tammy Duckworth (D-Ill.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), Tina Smith (D-Minn.), Chris Murphy (D-Conn.), and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.)—earlier this month urged a "cessation of hostilities."
Notably absent from the list is Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who has refused to call for a cease-fire, a stance that has prompted praise from the lobby group American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC)—which heavily contributes to the campaign coffers of pro-Israel Democrats and Republicans alike.
Biden—who has been accused of genocide denial for rejecting Palestinian casualty figures—has also resisted growing calls to back a cease-fire, instead favoring a "humanitarian pause," while his administration prepares to send more than $14 billion in new U.S. military aid to Israel. The country already receives nearly $4 billion in annual armed assistance from Washington.
Furthermore, the U.S. used its veto power at the United Nations Security Council to block a Brazil-sponsored cease-fire resolution last month.
Recent polling has shown that two-thirds of Americans support a cease-fire, while participants in massive—and ongoing—protests across the country, including many led by Jewish Americans, are resoundingly demanding an end to the killing.
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Hundreds of US Congressional Staffers Sign Open Letter Demanding Gaza Cease-Fire
"We feel compelled to raise our voices in this moment," the staffers wrote. "Millions of lives hang in the balance."
Oct 19, 2023
Citing the "catastrophic suffering" inflicted upon the people of Gaza by Israel's relentless bombardment of the Palestinian territory, hundreds of Muslim and Jewish U.S. congressional staffers on Thursday signed an open letter urging lawmakers to demand a cease-fire as the war approaches the two-week mark.
"We feel compelled to raise our voices in this moment," the staffers wrote. "Millions of lives hang in the balance, including the 2.3 million civilians—half of whom are children—in Gaza, civilians in Israel, and Jews and Muslims around the world. This is especially urgent with antisemitism, anti-Muslim, and anti-Palestinian sentiment on the rise nationwide, which instigated the brutal murder of a 6-year-old Palestinian American child, Wadea Al-Fayoume."
"We all are calling on our elected officials to find a new way forward together, through unbreakable solidarity motivated by our humanity."
Israeli officials said more than 1,400 Israeli civilians and soldiers were killed in the Hamas-led surprise attacks of October 7.
The staffers said they "join in mourning the loss of... Israelis murdered by these acts of terrorism and in prayer for those injured and the around 200 hostages in Gaza, including our fellow Americans, whose safe return is a priority for us all."
"We join members of Congress and the international community's denunciation of the horrific war crimes Hamas has committed," the letter states. "At the same time, we mourn for the Palestinian civilians who are enduring catastrophic suffering at the hands of the Israeli government. As of this writing, more than 6,000 bombs have been dropped on the Gaza Strip. More than 4,000 Palestinian civilians, including entire families, have been slain, and about 12,500 are injured."
"Palestinians in Gaza are facing critical shortages of medicine, food, drinking water, fuel, and electricity following the Israeli government's brutal blockade," the staffers noted. "As Muslims, Jews, and allies, we believe that denying these basic resources violates the tenets of our faiths, values, and our humanity."
"We are tired of reliving generational fears of genocide and ethnic cleansing," they added. "We are tired of leaders pushing us to blame each other, exploiting our pain and our histories to rationalize political agendas and justify violence. We all are calling on our elected officials to find a new way forward together, through unbreakable solidarity motivated by our humanity."
The staffers' letter follows the introduction earlier this week of a resolution led by Reps. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and co-sponsored by 13 other House progressives urging the Biden administration to push for an immediate cease-fire.
In the Senate, Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Wednesday blocked passage of Republican legislation to prohibit American aid to Gaza until President Joe Biden certifies that the funds won't benefit members of Hamas or any other U.S.-designated terrorist organization.
"We have got to do everything that we can to make sure that not one nickel goes to the murderous Hamas organization," Sanders explained. "But at the same time, we have got to stand with the innocent women and children in Palestine who are suffering today and are facing an almost unprecedented modern humanitarian disaster."
In stark contrast with the progressive lawmakers' call for an immediate cease-fire, the United States on Wednesday vetoed a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning violence against civilians in Israel and Gaza and calling for "humanitarian pauses" to allow aid to enter the besieged Palestinian territory. The U.S. was the only Security Council member to oppose the measure.
A U.S.-brokered deal to allow 20 truckloads of humanitarian aid into Gaza from Egypt was announced late Wednesday, although the details were still being hammered out on Thursday.
Also on Wednesday, Josh Paul, who spent 11 years as director of congressional and public affairs for the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, tendered his resignation over U.S. military aid to Israel during what numerous critics have called its "genocide" against Palestinians.
"I made myself a promise that I would stay for as long as I felt the harm I might do could be outweighed by the good I could do," Paul explained in his resignation letter. "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."
Huffpostreported Thursday that one State Department staffer described tensions in the agency as "basically a mutiny brewing... at all levels."
Throughout the Biden administration, staffers—especially Muslims—are sounding the alarm on a "culture of silence" stifling voices critical of Israel's onslaught or advocating a policy of restraint.
Biden is set to discuss "Hamas terrorist attacks against Israel, the need for humanitarian assistance in Gaza, [and] Russia's ongoing brutal war against Ukraine" during a prime-time televised address Thursday evening.
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