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tariq habash
Biden Officials Who Quit Over Gaza Launch Effort for 'New Policy' in Middle East
"The past year has shown us just how deeply damaging our policy in the Middle East is—to the region, and to America."
Oct 16, 2024
Two Biden administration officials who resigned in protest over federal policy on Israel and the Gaza Strip launched an advocacy effort Wednesday to "seek change in U.S. policy towards the Middle East."
By creating both a lobbying arm and a political action committee, co-founders Josh Paul and Tariq Habash say their project, including A New Policy and its companion A New Policy PAC, aims to better "represent the majority of Americans" who disagree with the government's approach to Israel-Palestine as well as the broader Middle East.
Paul, who spent 11 years as director of congressional and public affairs for the U.S. State Department's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, resigned last October, and Habash, a Palestinian American who served as a policy adviser in the Education Department's Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development, left his post in January.
"The past year has shown us just how deeply damaging our policy in the Middle East is—to the region, and to America," Paul said in a statement. "We've spent billions of taxpayer dollars while sacrificing national interests and global credibility, the safety of all people in the region has been compromised while Palestinians, in Gaza in particular, endure immeasurable suffering, and now we're on the brink of a regional war."
While U.S.-armed Israeli forces initially responded to the Hamas-led attack on October 7, 2023 with a devastating assault on Gaza, which the Palestinian group has governed for nearly two decades, Israel has also killed at least 2,350 people in Lebanon over the past year, many of them with recent intensified bombings and a ground invasion.
"More than a policy problem, we have a political problem and until we address the politics, we won't make significant headway on the policy issues," asserted Paul, the first of several officials who have publicly resigned since last October. "A New Policy recognizes this dynamic, and is designed to address it head-on."
A New Policy—whose incoming board of directors includes former U.S. Ambassador to Syria and Algeria Robert Ford and corporate executive Jaleh Bisharat—plans to focus on "relationship-driven, policy-oriented lobbying" while the PAC "will direct financial support to political campaigns."
As the statement detailed, the groups are launching with the belief that U.S. policy toward Israel and Palestine should:
- Advance American national security and foreign policy interests in the Middle East, and should contribute to peace and prosperity for all Americans;
- Reflect American values in our policy towards the Middle East, including freedom, equality, and human rights, and should enhance the health, security, welfare, and prosperity of all peoples; and
- Comply with American and international law, including laws, regulations, and policies governing the transfer of arms equally to all countries in the Middle East, including Israel.
Additionally, "A New Policy will work to oppose the enactment of laws or issuance of policies that run counter to American domestic interests," the statement said, pointing to "recent efforts to repress free speech, to prevent accountability, and to limit Americans' abilities to exercise their constitutional freedoms."
As HuffPostreported Wednesday:
The decision to launch A New Policy just weeks before the U.S. election is not lost on the former officials, who said they felt it was important to avoid appearing as if they formed the group in response to whoever wins the presidential race.
"Our effort, I think, transcends this one election, right? It is more than just what’s happening in November. This is an issue that continues to undermine our own national interests and our American values in a way that is dangerous in the long term," Habash said, with Paul echoing that the issue will persist regardless of who becomes president.
Early voting is already underway for the November 5 election. The contest for the White House is between former Republican President Donald Trump and Democratic Vice President Kamala Harris, who became the party's nominee after President Joe Biden exited the race this summer.
During the Democratic primary, when Biden was still the presumed candidate, the Uncommitted National Movement formed to pressure the president to push harder for a cease-fire and stop giving Israel weapons to commit genocide. The movement said last month that although it cannot endorse Harris, it opposes the Republican, "whose agenda includes plans to accelerate the killing in Gaza while intensifying the suppression of anti-war organizing," and does not recommend a third-party vote, which "could help inadvertently deliver a Trump presidency given our country's broken Electoral College system."
The launch of A New Policy and its related PAC came just a day after reporters revealed a Sunday letter in which the Biden administration finally threatened to cut off weapons unless Israel takes certain actions to improve conditions in Gaza within 30 days. Critics of the Israeli assault responded by renewing calls for halting arms immediately, pointing over a year's worth of proof of war crimes.
As of Wednesday, officials in Gaza put the confirmed death toll at 42,409, with 99,153 others injured, though thousands more remain missing. The carnage has led to a South Africa-led genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
"This past year has brought unimaginable pain and suffering to Palestinians in Gaza. For decades, elected officials have compromised American interests in favor of funding Israel's continued oppression of Palestinians," said Habash. "American voters are clear: They do not want to be complicit in this humanitarian catastrophe and a majority want an end to the transfer of lethal weapons that are used to kill Palestinian civilians. Elected officials have not kept up with the sea change in public opinion and A New Policy will work to close this gap."
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'I Cannot Be Quietly Complicit': Biden Official Resigns Over Gaza Assault
"I cannot stay silent as this administration turns a blind eye to the atrocities committed against innocent Palestinian lives," wrote Tariq Habash, who worked in the Education Department.
Jan 04, 2024
An Education Department official who volunteered for President Joe Biden's 2020 campaign announced his resignation Wednesday over the administration's support for Israel's "indiscriminate violence" against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, the latest sign of growing dissent within the U.S. government.
"It should go without saying that all violence against innocent people is horrific," Tariq Habash, a Palestinian American who worked as a policy adviser in the Education Department's Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development, wrote in his resignation letter. "I mourn each and every loss, Israeli and Palestinian."
"But I cannot represent an administration that does not value all human life equally. I cannot stay silent as this administration turns a blind eye to the atrocities committed against innocent Palestinian lives, in what leading human rights experts have called a genocidal campaign by the Israeli government," Habash continued. "I cannot be quietly complicit as this administration fails to leverage its influence as Israel's strongest ally to halt the abusive and ongoing collective punishment tactics that have cut off Palestinians in Gaza from food, water, electricity, fuel, and medical supplies, leading to widespread disease and starvation."
Habash is the second administration official—and the first political appointee—to resign over the Biden administration's handling of Israel's attack on Gaza, which has killed more than 22,000 people in less than three months. Josh Paul, who worked in the State Department for more than 11 years, resigned in protest less than two weeks after Israel began its latest bombing campaign in Gaza following a deadly Hamas-led attack.
"Complicity in the death of over 20,000 Palestinians, 8,200 of whom are children, simply cannot be justified."
Internal backlash against the Biden administration's decision to arm and provide diplomatic cover for the Israeli government has grown steadily over the course of the nearly three-month war, with staffers at the State Department, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and even Biden's 2024 reelection campaign voicing opposition to the president's unpopular approach.
On Wednesday, 17 current Biden campaign staffers released an open letter imploring the president to cut off unconditional aid to the Israeli military, use his leverage to push for an immediate and permanent cease-fire, and "take concrete steps to end the conditions of apartheid, occupation, and ethnic cleansing that are the root causes of this conflict."
"Complicity in the death of over 20,000 Palestinians, 8,200 of whom are children, simply cannot be justified," reads the letter, which was signed anonymously. "Only with an end to violence can we achieve a real and lasting peace that upholds the right to self-determination, safety, and freedom for Palestinians and Israelis alike."
Attorneys have warned that Biden administration officials, including the president himself, could face legal consequences for supporting genocide in the Gaza Strip. The administration is currently fighting a lawsuit aiming to enjoin it from providing any additional support for Israel's war on Gaza.
In an appearance on MSNBC following his resignation, Habash said he believes many officials within the Biden administration feel the way he does about the president's support for Israel's assault—and they are becoming increasingly vocal as the humanitarian disaster in Gaza spirals further out of control.
"We've seen hundreds of State Department officials sign onto numerous dissent cables that were leaked," Habash said. "We've seen USAID officials, we've seen White House staff, we've seen interns, we've seen hundreds of officials across the administration from dozens of agencies. This is a pretty commonly held position by a lot of the biggest supporters of the president. And the majority of American voters support a cease-fire, but the president's unwillingness to move on this policy is deafening and it hurts."
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