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us department of state
US State Dept. Officials Told Not to Use Terms 'De-Escalation/Cease-Fire' About Gaza
"This is unconscionable and will leave an indelible stain," said one critic, who urged "resignations and collective action" to protest the reported policy.
Oct 13, 2023
As Israel on Friday bombarded civilians in Gaza and prepared for a ground invasion in response to Hamas' recent attack, U.S. State Department leadership reportedly instructed officials not to publicly use some terms that would advocate for less violence.
According to HuffPost, which reviewed official emails, "State Department staff wrote that high-level officials do not want press materials to include three specific phrases: 'de-escalation/cease-fire,' 'end to violence/bloodshed,' and 'restoring calm.'"
HuffPost noted that "when reached for comment on the directive, a State Department official said they would not comment on internal communications." However, others were quick to blast the policy as "disgusting," "maddening," and "pretty shocking."
Guardian columnist Moira Donegan called it "a horror and a moral abdication that we, Americans, can never atone for."
Adam Shapiro, director of advocacy for Israel-Palestine at Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), said that "if you work at the U.S. Department of State and you believe that you are there for diplomacy and making the world a better place—now is the time for resignations and collective action."
"This is unconscionable and will leave an indelible stain," added Shapiro, who was far from the only critic to call the directive "unconscionable."
The reporting comes after U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken came under fire earlier this week for deleting a Sunday post on X, formerly Twitter, in which he said that during a conversation with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan, "I encouraged Turkey's advocacy for a cease-fire and the release of all hostages held by Hamas immediately."
Noting HuffPost's article, DAWN executive director Sarah Leah Whitson directly called out the secretary, writing on social media, "This your leadership for peace and security Antony Blinken?"
CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin took aim at President Joe Biden. "It just gets worse and worse," she said. "Biden is giving a total green light for Israel's collective punishment of Gazans."
Anthony Zenkus, an adjunct faculty member at Adelphi and Columbia universities, asked, "What is wrong with these people?"
Nina Turner, a senior fellow at the Institute on Race, Power, and Political Economy, stressed that "there is no peace without de-escalation."
As of Friday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said, Israeli airstrikes had killed at least 1,900 people, including 614 children, and wounded thousands. In addition to the bombing, Israel has imposed a full blockade, cutting off fuel, food, and medicine into the Gaza Strip in response to the Hamas-led weekend attack and rocket fire, which has killed more than 1,300 Israelis.
The United States already gives Isarel $3.8 billion in annual military aid, and the Biden administration has ramped up such support this week. After visting Israel on Thursday, Blinken on Friday met with Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, which governs the occupied West Bank and controlled Gaza until it was taken over by Hamas.
U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said that Blinken "reiterated the United States' unequivocal condemnation of the abhorrent terrorist attacks by Hamas against Israel. The secretary also detailed U.S. efforts to coordinate with partners to prevent the conflict from widening. The secretary extended his condolences to the families of Palestinian civilian victims of this conflict, and reiterated that Hamas does not stand for the Palestinian people's legitimate right to dignity, freedom, justice, and self-determination."
Meanwhile, ahead of its anticipated ground assault, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) on Friday ordered the roughly 1.1 million residents of northern Gaza—or about half of the strip's population—to evacuate to the southern part of the occupied territory within 24 hours, which United Nations spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric and groups such as Doctors Without Borders warn will have devastating humanitarian consequences.
A group of 55 House Democrats on Friday wrote to Biden and Blinken that they "are deeply concerned about the order" and urged them to pressure Israel to limit harm to civilians ahead of the IDF's expected action. That letter was not signed by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), the only Palestinian American member of Congress, who separately called for "immediate de-escalation and cease-fire to save countless civilian lives, no matter their faith or ethnicity."
"President Biden has not expressed one bit of empathy for the millions of Palestinian civilians facing brutal airstrikes and the threat of a ground invasion of Gaza that would intensify this humanitarian crisis," Tlaib added. "Many families in the U.S. seeking help to get their loved ones out of Gaza feel that Secretary Blinken is not making their safety a priority. The Biden administration is failing in its duty to protect all civilian and American lives in Gaza."
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'Affirming Apartheid': Biden Admin to Allow Israel Into Visa Waiver Program
One critic called it "an outrageous endorsement of the Israeli government's systematic discrimination against Palestinian Americans and a reward to the most extremist, racist government in Israel's history."
Sep 27, 2023
Human rights advocates on Wednesday forcefully denounced the Biden administration's move to let Israelis apply to travel to the United States without visas, and vice versa, despite charges that Israel's treatment of Palestinian Americans violates the program's legal requirements.
The U.S. departments of Homeland Security and State confirmed that by November 30, "the Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA) will be updated to allow citizens and nationals of Israel to apply to travel to the United States for tourism or business purposes for up to 90 days without first obtaining a U.S. visa."
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas said that the designation of Israel into the Visa Waiver Program (VWP) "represents over a decade of work and coordination," and "is an important recognition of our shared security interests and the close cooperation between our two countries."
While U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken added that "this important achievement will enhance freedom of movement for U.S. citizens, including those living in the Palestinian territories or traveling to and from them," rights groups and some American lawmakers have been pushing back against such claims.
U.S. Sens. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) and Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), joined by over a dozen colleagues, wrote in a letter to Blinken earlier this month that according to a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed in this summer, "Israel is not expected to fully implement one system that all U.S. citizen travelers can use for purposes of visa waiver travel until May 1, 2024, well beyond the September 30, 2023 deadline for meeting program requirements."
"The MOU states that Israel will employ 'an interim process for a U.S. citizen who is a resident of the West Bank.' Such a two-tiered system of entry inherently violates the administration's own standard for reciprocity that 'blue is blue'—meaning 'equal treatment and freedom of travel for all U.S. citizens regardless of national origin, religion, or ethnicity," the senators noted. "We have already learned of a number of U.S. citizen families who flew to Israel to take advantage of visa waiver travel under the new MOU who were denied entry for having Gaza IDs."
Van Hollen and Schatz, along with Sens. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.), and Peter Welch (D-Vt.), reiterated their concerns in a joint statement Wednesday, saying that "to date, Israel has failed to meet the 'blue is blue' requirement. Adherence to this important American tenet of reciprocity and equal treatment of all U.S. citizens is critical to the integrity of the Visa Waiver Program, and we are deeply concerned with the administration's decision to move forward in violation of that principle."
The Biden administration's highly anticipated announcement follows a related lawsuit filed Tuesday by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), whose director, Abed Ayoub, said Wednesday that "by endorsing a tiered system for U.S. citizens, our government has given its tacit approval to Israel's prejudiced policies and apartheid actions."
Especially faced with what is widely considered Israel's most far-right government in the nation's history—reaffirmed by stunts like Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu presenting a map of "The New Middle East" without Palestine during a speech to the United Nations General Assembly last week—a growing number of rights groups have accused Israel of apartheid.
Adalah Justice Project executive director Sandra Tamari declared Wednesday that "apartheid is not only Israeli policy, it is U.S. policy too."
"Israel's discrimination is especially egregious against Palestinian Americans with ties to Gaza," Tamari stressed, "making reunification of families torn apart by Israel's siege and blockade of Gaza near impossible."
Leaders from Americans for Justice in Palestine Action, American Muslims for Palestine, Council on American Islamic Relations, Jewish Voice for Peace Action (JVP Action), Muslim Public Affairs Council, the Jerusalem Fund for Education and Community Development, and the U.S. Campaign for Palestinian Rights also denounced the Biden administration's designation.
JVP Action executive director Stefanie Fox called it "an outrageous endorsement of the Israeli government's systematic discrimination against Palestinian Americans and a reward to the most extremist, racist government in Israel's history."
"Once again, the U.S. is singling out Israel for special and exceptionalized treatment at the expense of the rights of Palestinian Americans," she added. "Jewish Voice for Peace Action calls for the immediate reversal of this decision."
James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, suggested that "by choosing to make this reckless move ahead of the September 30, 2023 end of the federal fiscal year, it is also clear the issue of reciprocity was not the only barrier to Israel's eligibility to enter the VWP."
"Moving to admit them now so that an application would not have to restart under potentially different (and post-Covid) visa refusal rates—an additional requirement of the law—is another sign of the prioritization of politics over our rights," he continued. "With this move, Israel has extended its discriminatory apartheid laws to American citizens with our own government's enthusiastic support."
Democracy in the Arab World Now (DAWN) director of advocacy for Israel/Palestine Adam Shapiro, a plaintiff in ADC's lawsuit, said Wednesday that "the U.S. should halt implementation of the visa waiver for Israel at least until a judge reviews what we believe to be the government's arbitrary and capricious actions that enshrine Israeli apartheid in a U.S. program."
"Separate can never be equal, as was determined decades ago in the fight for civil rights in this country," Shapiro added. "Forty countries participate in the VWP, and none have formal arrangements to discriminate against American citizens; only Israel has demanded and been granted this unconscionable favor by the U.S. government."
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