U.S. diplomats slam Israel policy in leaked memo

[billwanhua]

U.S. diplomats slam Israel policy in leaked memo

The document offers a window into internal fury at the State Department over President Joe Biden’s Middle East policies.

www.politico.com

The memo has two key requests: that the U.S. support a ceasefire, and that it balance its private and public messaging toward Israel, including airing criticisms of Israeli military tactics and treatment of Palestinians that the U.S. generally prefers to keep private.

The memo obtained by POLITICO was authored by two midlevel staffers who have worked in the Middle East, said a department employee who has seen the document and was granted anonymity to discuss a sensitive topic.

The memo concedes that Israel has a “legitimate right and obligation” to seek justice against the Palestinian militants of Hamas, who killed some 1,400 Israelis in a shocking Oct. 7 attack. But it argues that “the extent of human lives lost thus far is unacceptable” — referring to the thousands of Palestinians, most of them civilians and many children, killed by Israel in the days since.

The U.S. “tolerance” for such a high civilian death toll “engenders doubt in the rules-based international order that we have long championed,” the document states. It argues that the United States must hold both Israel and Hamas responsible for their actions.