On Wednesday, President Joe Biden arrived in Israel, just as it was previewed on Monday. Earlier on Wednesday, The Huffington Post published a piece full of comments from anonymous White House employees, titled "'On Thin Ice': Some Biden Administration Staffers Feel Stifled Discussing Horrors In Gaza." Those "horrors," however, don't pertain to Hamas' October 7 terrorist attack on Israel, but rather Israel's response to Hamas after the attack.
There was only the briefest of mentions early on in the piece about the October 7 attack that resulted in the slaughter of more than 1,300 Israelis, along with at least 30 Americans. It was the bloodiest day in Israel's history, with the most Jews killed since the Holocaust.
There was no mention, either, of how Hamas had not only killed civilians, but raped, kidnapped, and tortured people. They even targeted babies to kill by beheading and by burning them alive, as Israel's official X account released photos of last week.
Although Hamas is mentioned by name, the outlet can't bring itself to identify them for what they are, terrorists, not merely in the paragraph about the attack, but at all throughout the lengthy piece.
As the opening paragraphs mentioned (emphasis added):
President Joe Biden departed for Israel on Tuesday evening on a high-stakes diplomatic visit amid ongoing Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed that has killed more than 4,000 people so far. As Biden grapples with the crisis, several U.S. officials told HuffPost it has become difficult to have a full debate within his administration about what’s happening in Israel-Palestine ― and in particular that people who want to talk about Israeli restraint or humanitarian protections for Palestinians feel stifled.
Several staffers across multiple agencies, most of whom work on national security issues, told HuffPost they and their colleagues worry about retaliation at work for questioning Israel’s conduct amid the U.S.-backed Israeli campaign to avenge an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas, the Palestinian militant group, that killed more than 1,400 Israelis.
Under the subheading of "A Distorted Debate," the article's framing gets even more egregious (again, emphasis added):
One official described the first few days of the current crisis as “extremely hard.” The Biden administration launched a strategy focused on showing solidarity for Israel ― while the country pummeled residential neighborhoods in Gaza and cut off electricity and water supplies for the region.
...
Yet it was clear to them the White House wanted to send a dramatic show of assistance to Israel as soon as possible. The official initially felt unable to highlight concerns about the consequences for Palestinians in policy discussions.
“It took me till Wednesday or Thursday to have the courage to say, ‘I don’t think it would be good for America if we are seen as responsible for killing Palestinian children,’” they said. “There was awkward silence like a pin could drop, and I’m like, ‘Are they going to report me to the House Un-American Activities Committee?’”
Some officials said they felt there was little interest in perspectives that were not primarily about Israel’s losses. One pointed to an internal White House message from Zients after the Hamas attack that expressed solidarity with Jewish staff and those with Israeli ties but did not mention how Israel’s response was affecting Gazans. Another cited the State Department’s internal counseling program for employees affected by the situation, which referenced Israel but not the occupied Palestinian territories.
On Friday, HuffPost revealed that State Department officials discouraged their colleagues from using phrases suggesting Israeli restraint in public statements.
The paragraphs above also set the stage for a dangerous narrative calling for "Israeli restraint" as it responds to an attack from terrorists who target civilians and want to eradicate Jews and the state of Israel. Twice in the days after the attack, Biden administration accounts on X posted, then deleted, comments suggesting such restraint.
The State Department’s Office of Palestinian Affairs called on "all sides to refrain from violence and retaliatory attacks" in the since-deleted posting hours after Hamas terrorists launched their barbaric attack and then Secretary of State Antony Blinken posted and deleted his urging for Turkey to work toward a ceasefire.
For there to be disarray in the White House when it comes to what is normally regarded as one of the few bipartisan issues left — including and especially after White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre claimed last week that they're "not sensing division" in the Democratic Party over the issue — doesn't look good for the president.
Such staffers, though, still look to have influence with their pro-Hamas narratives (emphasis added):
And officials tracking the escalating fighting are quietly sharing dark predictions about the ultimate toll of Israel’s operation in Gaza, Hamas’s base, along with pessimism about their ability to influence the situation and Biden’s commitment to reducing tensions.
The period since the Hamas attack represents “the first time in the administration that there was a real culture of silence,” one official said. “It feels like post-9/11 where you feel like your thoughts are being policed, and you’re really afraid of being seen as anti-American or an anti-Semite.”
A career civil servant described tension between their commitment to challenging rights abuses and their job.
“I’m trying to educate people about Palestine through social media, but I’m worried I’ll lose my security clearance for criticizing the president or blaming the U.S. for civilian massacre,” they told HuffPost. “I feel like there’s no place for me in America anymore, and I’m on thin ice with my clearance because of my heritage and because I care about my people dying.”
There isn't much detail about what the staffer means by "trying to educate people about Palestine," but some social media posts have involved quite the hot takes and even fake news. This includes the aftermath from a misfired terrorist's rocket striking a hospital in Gaza, which Hamas falsely blamed Israel for, with the liberal media helping Hamas by parroting their terrorist propaganda.
The Biden administration is making an effort to reach and mollify such staffers, according to the HuffPo piece. Referring to plans "not previously reported," HuffPo mentioned that White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients will hold a "listening session with Muslim, Arab, and Palestinian staff to hear from them directly."
"But with many Biden staffers already deeply demoralized, that outreach could be perceived as window dressing if there’s little proof it creates a more inclusive decision-making process," the report mentions, after including a statement from a White House spokesperson.
The discussion from unnamed staffers gets more problematic as the piece goes on. In addition to staffers appearing to try to make it a 'both sides' kind of issue, one claims to face the "same dehumanization" as "innocent Palestinians":
Calling the period [of time after the October 7 attack] “disillusioning,” the person who works in the administration said: “There is a sense that the administration’s policy decisions show stunning disregard for innocent Palestinians ― and that same dehumanization is also reflected in how staff are being treated.”
“It’s jarring for people because there is so much care for some lives, both abroad and in terms of thinking about how certain staff must be feeling,” the person continued.
Another part of the piece mentioned an essay being passed around peddling the ludicrous narrative that Israel was looking to engage in genocide:
A number of staff at national security agencies have passed around a Jewish Currents essay from a scholar who suggested Israel is seeking to carry out a genocide, the U.S. official said.
The officials want high-level Americans to acknowledge past analyses that estimate tens of thousands of deaths in the kind of ground invasion of Gaza that Israel is preparing to launch. Many more people will likely be permanently displaced.
“The inter-agency is now patching band-aids and not thinking in a structural way,” they argued.
The article closes by mentioning a staffer who now feels "deep shame" over serving in the Biden administration over the response:
Another official ― a career bureaucrat who has worked on foreign policy for more than a decade ― said people are more alarmed about the situation in Gaza than they have been during past flare-ups in the region. The official described a culture of “self-censorship,” particularly among younger staff; they said those staffers appear to be “shocked” by how the administration’s response to what’s happening in Gaza differs from Biden’s campaign rhetoric about prioritizing human rights and his emphasis on protecting civilians in the Ukraine war.
“It’s fully in [the Biden administration’s] hands to say there’s not going to be mass atrocities,” the official said.
Current conditions are forcing “a reckoning moment,” the person in the administration said.
“There’s a deep, deep sorrow and pain for people as they’re seeing the death count rapidly mount and a panicked and alarmed sense of, ‘How are we allowing this to happen?’” they continued. “The pride I felt serving in President Biden’s administration has given way to deep shame. May God forgive us.”
Whether Biden's announcement of $100 million in aid for Hamas terrorist-controlled Gaza and the corrupt leaders in the West Bank mollifies the disgruntled Hamas sympathizers in the Biden administration remains to be seen.
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