US education official Tariq Habash resigned due to Biden’s policy between Israel and Gaza

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By Reuters

A top US Education Department official resigned on Wednesday, citing President Joe Biden's handling of the Gaza conflict, the latest sign of dissent in the administration as deaths in the war continue to mount.

Also on Wednesday, 17 Biden re-election campaign staffers issued a warning in an anonymous letter that Biden could lose voters over the issue.

“I cannot remain silent while this administration turns a blind eye to the atrocities committed against the lives of innocent Palestinians,” Tareq Habash, special assistant in the Department of Education’s Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development, said in a letter to Education Secretary Miguel Cardona. In what senior human rights experts described as a campaign of genocide by the Israeli government.

Habash, a Palestinian-American and student debt expert, was appointed early in the Biden presidency as part of building out the Education Department's expertise in student loans.

In their letter published on the Medium website, the 17 anonymous employees of Biden's re-election campaign urged Biden to call for a ceasefire in Gaza.

“Biden’s presidential staff has seen volunteers drop out in droves, and people who have voted blue for decades feel uncertain about doing so for the first time ever, because of this conflict,” staffers wrote in a letter. the message.

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The Biden campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said earlier on Wednesday that the United States had not observed actions in Gaza that constituted genocide.

His statements came in response to the proceedings brought by South Africa before the International Court of Justice regarding Israeli military operations in Gaza.

Israel has also denied allegations of genocide in Gaza.