Another U.S. official has publicly quit their government job over the Biden administration's handling of the Israel-Hamas war until yesterday. Doctor and now she line was a foreign affairs officer at the State Department, working in an office that promotes human rights in the Middle East. Dr. Shi Line details the reasoning behind her public resignation in a CNN Opinion article, and she joins us now. Thanks so much for joining us. Thank you for having me. You write regarding the forced displacement of Gaza civilians, the lack of aid, violence by Israeli settlers in the West Bank. You say, quote, These actions which which experts on genocide have testified meet the crime of genocide, are conducted with the diplomatic and military support of the US government. And that's the basis of your resignation. As you know, genocide is a very specific definition here. How do you feel Israel's behavior there meets that definition? I mean, I would leave that to the experts. As you said, it is a very specific definition. But I, I would argue that in general, the actions that Israeli military is taking are are seeking to wipe out the population of Gaza. We've also heard such statements made by Israeli officials, political officials and military officials. The UN, unfortunately, we're also hearing plans being made now for people to take over the territory of the Gaza Strip. We had Jared Kushner come on and talk about how he's going to build highrises on this beautiful beachfront properly property. You know, as you said, the crime of genocide does not need to meet a particular legal definition. But I would I would posit that there are there are many experts who are who are arguing that that is what Israel is doing. Well, intent is key, of course, because here let's be clear, Hamas is a terrorist organization. It deliberately killed civilians, as it did on October 7th, and it deliberately hides behind civilians in Gaza. I understand the argument that there has been insufficient attention to protect civilian lives there. But. But I wonder, who do you hold responsible? Who do you hold responsible for it? Is it Israel alone? Is it Israel and the US for its support? But is Hamas? Does Hamas also bear responsibility for the civilian losses? Absolutely. I mean, Hamas is a terrorist organization. I just think that the way Israel and as well as the United States have been involved in conducting this war, it could have been done in a very different manner. The the levels of the casualties that we're seeing, the use of starvation as a weapon of war, the fact that the United States isn't using its leverage to insist that aid get in and that a cease fire be put in place, in particular, we're seeing from the Israeli public their frustration with the fact that their own hostages are not actually being prioritized. Instead, we have the prime minister, whose political future depends on this war going on for as long as possible. He's he's talked about going after Lebanon as well. I know that the US government is trying to do everything they can to prevent that, but thus far I shouldn't say everything they can there. They're not doing everything they can to prevent that. I would argue they need to use all the leverage to make sure Israel neither expands the war and and agrees to a ceasefire, an exchange of hostages from both sides and to to bring in the necessary aid. You told my colleague Christiane Amanpour today that you speak for, quote, many people when standing against the US government's Gaza policy. I wonder when you when you left, when you made your resignation public, when you wrote this opinion piece for CNN, did many people that many of your colleagues come to you and say, we're backing you? They have. I was not planning initially to to go public. I was only at the State Department a brief time. But when I started to tell people that I was planning to resign quietly, they said, you know, please reconsider, please, please go public if you'd be willing to. So I decided I would. And since then, I have had people reach out to me. I think my my greatest concern is that by going public, I might somehow undermine some of these efforts. And the State Department is doing very important work here. But I do think that public pressure is why we're starting to see the administration shifting here. And it is the administration that is making these decisions. It's the president who is deciding what our policy towards Israel and regarding Gaza is going to be. So even though there are many people inside state who disagree with this, it's going to take the president changing his mind before we see a new policy. Let me ask you this, because as you as you say, there has been both private and public pressure increasing from President Biden and the White House in recent days and weeks on Israel, for instance, not to go into Rafah in Gaza. That's insufficient, in your view. What would be sufficient, in your view, from the U.S. side? I think the U.S. needs to uphold our own laws. We have the Leahy laws that would that stipulate that U.S. foreign military assistance cannot go to units of a foreign military that that are engaged in gross human rights violations. Also a foreign government that is preventing US humanitarian aid is no longer eligible for for U.S. military assistance. We're not upholding those laws. So I think we could start there, just start upholding our own laws. I think this is particularly crucial not only for the people of Gaza, but this administration has tried to distinguish itself from the previous administration as one that not only believes in the rule of law, but that believes in America's role in the world and wanted to reestablish America as a leader, not only in terms of, you know, I know you've done work on great power competition, but if America is is not going to distinguish itself from some of our adversaries that engage in these sorts of human rights violations, why should the rest of the world look to us as a leader? You said the loss of soft power, Doctor and she line. Thanks so much for sharing your point of view. I appreciate having you on.
