In a letter, a political appointee to the Department of Education resigned on Wednesday, criticizing the Biden administration’s handling of the Israel-Hamas conflict in Gaza.
The conflict, which began with Hamas’ October 7 attacks on Israel, is approaching its third month with no signs of ending, and Tariq Habash, a policy adviser in the DOE’s Office of Planning, Evaluation, and Policy Development, has resigned. This follows a previous public departure from the administration over its handling of the war.
It should go without saying that any forms of violence against defenseless individuals are abhorrent. In the two-page letter addressed to Miguel Cardona, the education secretary, Habash expressed his sorrow for all losses, whether Israeli and Palestinian. However, I am unable to stand in for an administration that does not respect human life equally.
When contacted about Habash’s departure, a representative for the Department of Education issued a statement that said, “We wish him the best in his future endeavors.”
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In a direct criticism of President Joe Biden, Habash spoke with CNN’s Abby Phillip on Wednesday.
He declared on “NewsNight” that “the president’s refusal to call for an immediate and permanent ceasefire is untenable with the belief by millions of Americans across this country.”
There has been increasing pressure on Biden to demand an end to hostilities. The president has emphasized his administration’s push for the delivery of humanitarian supplies to Gaza while also praising Israel’s right to self-defense.
“We will continue to lead the world in humanitarian assistance to innocent Palestinian civilians, to emphasize to our friends, our Israeli friends, we need to protect civilian life,” the president declared last month.
Habash’s resignation comes after that of Josh Paul, a former employee of the State Department, who made his departure public in October citing “a policy disagreement concerning our continued lethal assistance to Israel.”
In a phone conversation to Phillip, Habash urged Biden to “end this violence, to make demands of the Israeli government, to end the indiscriminate violence against Palestinians.”
According to the Ministry of Health, which is managed by Hamas, Israel’s onslaught in Gaza has claimed the lives of at least 22,000 Palestinians since the start of the conflict.
In the letter, Habash claimed that his background as a Palestinian American had given him “a critical and underrepresented perspective” to contribute to the Biden administration’s “ongoing work on equity and justice.”
In the letter, Habash also mentioned how the violence has affected US students, saying that “Jewish, Muslim, and Arab students on college campuses have expressed feeling less safe.”
“The Department of Education has to be actively involved in helping institutions meet the needs of their teachers, staff, and students.
Hundreds of demonstrations and counterprotests have taken place on college campuses since the beginning of the war; some of them have become violent. Since October 7, the DOE has received complaints about purported instances of antisemitism and Islamophobia, leading to an unusual number of Title VI investigations into college campuses, including ones at Harvard University and the University of Pennsylvania.
