Welcome to a special episode of PassBlue podcast series UNSCripted. I’m Jessica Le Masurier, and I’m joined by Hala Rharrit, the Arabic language spokesperson for the Mideast-North Africa region for the United States State Department who recently resigned in protest over US policy on the war in Gaza. (The text part of the interview, below, has been edited for clarity.)
PassBlue: As the US is rocked by antiwar protests on campuses nationwide, it’s also clear there’s much discontent within the Biden administration over the war. Mrs. Rharrit is the third State Department official to publicly quit over the Biden administration’s stance on the conflict. You worked for the State Department for over 18 years, what made you finally decide to quit?
Rharrit: I joined straight out of my graduate studies in 2006, and the reason I decided to become a diplomat was because, as silly as it sounds, I wanted to do good in the world and I wanted to help my country. I felt for the last 18 years that every single day as a diplomat, I was doing those things. I was helping the United States of America. I was strengthening ties between the United States and other countries. I felt like I was a force of good in the world. Unfortunately, the role that the United States has chosen to play in this crisis has been catastrophic. It pains me very much to say that as a dedicated diplomat.
It pains me to say that out loud, and it took me a while to even admit it to myself. But the reality is that President [Joe] Biden has chosen to implement a militaristic policy that has focused on sending weaponry to Israel for a continued bombardment on a besieged civilian population.
This policy has failed. It has not achieved any of its military objectives. The Israeli hostages are still stuck in Gaza. Obviously, 34,000 Palestinians have been killed, 14,000 of whom are children. As a diplomat, I strongly believe in the power of diplomacy. There are other ways to achieve goals and diplomatic solutions work. But unfortunately, the administration has chosen to ignore its diplomats and has chosen to consistently abide by this militaristic policy.
I could no longer be part of that.
PassBlue: Could you describe what it was like inside the State Department after the Oct. 7 attacks?
Rharrit: For us that are serving overseas as diplomats, especially in the Middle East, we were horrified by the terrorist attacks. Everybody was just shocked at the devastation and the horrors that occurred that day. And we were all very concerned about, obviously, what would happen next, because it was without a doubt Israel would react and obviously try to bring home the hostages and would react against Hamas.
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But I think it’s clear that nobody quite realized, or at least would have hoped, that it would not have gotten to this stage, when we’re talking about famine. I want to be clear now, this is not an us-versus-them dichotomy that has been a lot on mainstream media. It shouldn’t be an Israeli versus Palestinian side. We should really be looking at this conflict in terms of the people, the Israeli people, the Palestinian people, and the fact that we’ve gotten to the point of famine, that children have died of starvation, when there are grocery stores that are completely full, just 30 minutes away from where these children are dying of starvation, it’s…
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