Stacy gilbert cites moral objections after review clears Israel despite evidences.
A career U.S. diplomat resigned from her senior post at the State Department on Tuesday, saying she could no longer serve the Biden administration after it released a report that concluded Israel was not preventing humanitarian aid from reaching war-torn Gaza.
Stacy Gilbert, who worked as a senior civilian-military advisor in the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM), sent an email to colleagues announcing her immediate departure. In the message obtained by The Washington Post, Gilbert stated she was resigning because the administration had made the “wrong” determination about the obstruction of aid flows into the besieged Palestinian territory.
The State Department report in question was filed in response to a February national security memorandum from President Joe Biden tasking officials with assessing whether Israel had provided credible assurances its use of U.S.-supplied weapons complied with international law. Despite mounting evidence to the contrary documented by human rights monitors, the review concluded there were no firm grounds to believe American arms were being used to unlawfully restrict humanitarian aid access to Gaza.
“After sixteen years of service, I can no longer be part of an administration that provides the Israeli government with a level of impunity that enables state violence against civilians in Gaza,” Gilbert wrote in her email, according to officials who reviewed the message. “The memo’s conclusions thoroughly undermine the values I’ve sworn to uphold as an American representing this country abroad.”
Gilbert, a Foreign Service officer who previously served in embassies across the Middle East, is the first known Biden political appointee to resign in protest over the administration’s policies toward Israel and the Palestinian territories amid the now eight-month conflict in Gaza. Her departure underscores the profound moral dilemmas weighing on some American diplomats over the U.S. role in what observers have decried as potential war crimes committed by Israeli forces during operations like the deadly strike on a UN shelter in Rafah last month.
State Department officials have adamantly pushed back against accusations of covering for Israeli abuses, insisting the administration was bound by strict legal standards in assessing military aid compliance based on the information available.
“The review determined there are credible reports regarding IDF military operations in Gaza that have resulted in harm to civilians which raise concerns about the potential diversion or derivation of U.S.-origin equipment away from its intended use,” explained State Department spokesperson Jalina Porter.
“However,” she added. “The review did not find reason to conclude that IDF operations in Gaza this year involved the purposeful application of U.S. origin weapons against Palestinian civilians by Israeli armed forces.”
The administration’s findings represent a blow to human rights advocates who have meticulously documented mounting evidence that Israel’s U.S.-supplied munitions and heavy weapons have been routinely used to bombard residential areas, destroy civilian infrastructure like hospitals, and kill non-combatants throughout the Gaza assault. Gruesome footage emerging from strikes on displacement camps like Rafah have only added to demands for accountability.
Amnesty International slammed the State Department report as “unconscionable” and part of a disturbing pattern of impunity for Israeli actions.
“With this determination, the Biden administration has essentially given a green light for Israel to continue deploying U.S. weapons against Palestinian civilians in violation of U.S. laws and international humanitarian law with complete disregard for human life,” said Philippe Nassif, Amnesty’s advocacy director for the Middle East.
Nassif and other advocates praised Gilbert as a “patriot willing to sacrifice her career rather than provide a stamp of approval to likely war crimes.” According to Gilbert’s resignation note, she could no longer rationalize enabling potential U.S. complicity in Israeli forces’ conduct toward vulnerable Gaza civilians.
“How could I possibly counsel government agencies on upholding the Refugee Convention and Geneva Conventions in regions around the world while simultaneously allowing likely violations of those same sacrosanct laws to be perpetrated using American arms transfers?” she wrote, according to officials familiar with the message.
Gilbert’s stance encapsulates the growing rift between parts of the U.S. diplomatic corps and more firmly pro-Israel elements holding sway in the higher echelons of the Biden foreign policy team. While some State Department veterans like Gilbert viewed the Gaza offensive through the lens of human rights norms and international law, others have remained staunchly aligned with Israeli government narratives justifying nearly any scale of force as legitimate “counter-terrorism.”
From that hawkish perspective, which seemed to guide the administration’s report, civilian casualties are ultimately the tragic yet unavoidable consequence of Israel attempting to neutralize Hamas’ militant capabilities and rocket attacks. No degree of likely collateral damage against Gazan noncombatants merits the suspension or cessation of U.S. military aid flows keeping Israeli forces equipped.
Speaking to the Associated Press, Gilbert declined to elaborate further on the specific justifications or incidents prompting her resignation in protest. However, she made clear her indignation stemmed from a belief the report’s conclusions violate American law and democratic values by effectively endorsing potential Israeli war crimes.
“I do not believe this determination accurately reflects the reality of U.S. weapons being potentially used to commit war crimes in Gaza, limit humanitarian access, or egregiously harm civilians,” Gilbert said. “My conscience demands I take a stand against such profound moral failings by an administration I faithfully served for years.”
