The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today demanded answers from the Agency for International Development (USAID) after a contractor with that agency resigned, saying USAID gave him a choice between resigning or dismissal over a presentation he wanted to give on maternal and child mortality among Palestinians. That presentation was reportedly cancelled at the last minute by USAID leadership.
In his resignation letter to USAID head Samantha Power, Alexander Smith wrote in part: “I cannot do my job in an environment in which specific people cannot be acknowledged as fully human, or where gender and human rights principles apply to some, but not to others, depending on their race.”
He wrote: “In Ukraine, we call for legal redress when people are victimized, and name perpetrators of violence…We boldly state ‘Slava Ukraini’ in peppy promotional videos…When it comes to the Palestinians, however, we avoid saying anything about their right to statehood, the abuses they’re currently suffering, or which powers have been violating their basic rights to freedom, self-determination, livelihoods, and clean water.”
In a statement, CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell said:
“We demand that USAID explain why a presentation outlining the tremendous suffering being imposed on Palestinian women and children by the far-right Israeli government – with the full support of the Biden administration – would be cancelled and the author punished. Are the lives of Palestinians of less value than those of people of other ethnic and religious backgrounds?”
Yesterday, CAIR applauded another in a “growing list” of Biden administration officials who have resigned over the president’s continuing complicity in the Gaza genocide.
Stacy Gilbert, a senior official in the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration (PRM) announced Wednesday that she is resigning from her post over the Biden administration’s policies on Gaza. According to the Washington Post, Gilbert sent an email to State Department employees saying a report that Israel did not obstruct aid to Gaza was incorrect.
Earlier this month, CAIR applauded Lily Greenberg Call, an Interior Department official who resigned from her position over continued US support for the genocide in Gaza. Greenberg Call says that she is the first Jewish-American administration official to resign due to the genocide.
CAIR also commended Defense Department intelligence agency official Major Harrison Mann for resigning in protest of the Biden administration’s military and financial support for the Israeli government’s war crimes in Gaza.
In March, CAIR thanked a U.S. State Department official working on human rights issues in the Middle East who resigned in protest of U.S. support for the far-right Israeli government’s genocide in Gaza.
In January, CAIR commended former Biden administration official Tariq Habash for his “courageous and principled” decision to resign in protest of President Biden’s support for ongoing war crimes against civilians in Gaza.
Habash, formerly a Department of Education policy adviser appointed by the Biden administration, quit to protest the administration’s support of Israel’s genocidal assault on Gaza.
Other Biden Administration Resignations:
In April Hala Rharrit, a former Arabic language spokesperson for the State Department, resigned over the administration’s position on the war.
Josh Paul, a former director at the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, resigned after Israel launched its war on Gaza.
La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.
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CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, e-Mitchell@cair.com; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, rmccaw@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, ihooper@cair.com, CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, iallison@cair.com