The United States diplomat who quit over President Joe Biden’s handling of the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas spoke out, saying she feels that the U.S. is on the “wrong side of history.”
Hala Rharrit, the first U.S. diplomat to resign over the Biden administration’s policy regarding the Israel and Hamas war, had spent 18 years working at the State Department, with no “intention of resigning.”
“I had full intentions of continuing on in my career until I reached senior levels,” Rharrit explained to CNN. “I never had the intention of resigning.”
Prior to her resignation, Rharrit had served as an Arabic language spokesperson for the State Department for a year and a half.
On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched an attack on Israel by land, sea, and air, which left 1,200 people dead.
The attack saw around 3,000 Hamas terrorists invade Israel, killing concert-goers at a music festival while others hunted down Jewish men, women, and children, leaving many subjected to torture, rape, and even death.
In response to the attack, Israel launched a self-defense operation in the Hamas-controlled territory of Gaza.
Rharrit shared that after the attack, she and some of her colleagues were left “horrified” and wondering what would “happen next.”
“Everyone was sort of bracing themselves, ‘Oh, my goodness, what’s going to happen next?’” Rharitt said, adding that while they knew Israel would respond forcefully, they did not predict “the outcome would be 34,000 killed” and the people of Gaza dealing with “famine conditions.”
As the war between Israel and Hamas has continued, the people living in northern Gaza are reportedly facing famine.
Biden has stated that his support for Israel is “ironclad” in the aftermath of Hamas’s attack.
“I’m fundamentally concerned that we’re on the wrong side of history and we are hurting our interests,” Rharrit explained.
Rharrit’s resignation in April came after Josh Paul, the former director of Congressional and Public Affairs for the State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, had resigned in October over the Biden administration providing weapons to Israel.
