The professionals’ revolt against foreign policy double standards
The Israel/Gaza conflict has catalyzed staffers to stand up for principles and against hypocrisy
In the last week we have seen reports of staffers in the U.S. State Department, the U.S. Congress and the European Commission voicing frustration to their superiors that their institutions are operating double standards in Israel/Palestine policy. The fact that this is coming from three directions represents a notable convergence that can’t be dismissed as an outlier. Here’s what’s being reported:
State Department staffers – HuffPost reports “widespread internal frustration” among staffers who feel their views are being smothered by bosses at the political level, citing a concern “that U.S. policy statements emphasized support for Israel over the lives of Palestinians.” One official said, “There’s basically a mutiny brewing within State at all levels.” Others said diplomats are preparing a “dissent cable” to register opposition.
State official resigns – Josh Paul, a staffer in the bureau that reviews and approves U.S. arms transfers, posted a letter of resignation citing his objection to the Biden Administration’s unconditioned expediting of lethal arms to Israel and “blind support for one side [as] destructive in the long term interests of the people on both sides.” He writes that “if we want a world shaped by what we perceive to be our values, it is only by conditioning strategic imperatives with moral ones, by holding our partners, and above all by holding ourselves, to those values, that we will see it.”
Congressional staffers – More than 400 Congressional staffers (led by Muslim and Jewish staffers but including others) signed an open letter calling for a ceasefire and protection of children. The staffers welcomed their bosses’ expression of solidarity with Israel following the Hamas attack but said they were “profoundly disturbed that such shows of humanity have barely been extended to the Palestinian people… We believe that Palestinian civilians deserve to be remembered, mourned and defended with the same rigor that Jewish Israelis deserve from the U.S. Congress.”
European Commission – Euractiv reported that some 850 EU staff working in offices around the world signed a three-page letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. It contrasted her position of ‘unconditional support’ to Israel to “the seeming indifference demonstrated over the past few days by our institution toward the ongoing massacre of civilians in the Gaza Strip, in disregard for human rights and international humanitarian law,” with the EU staff reportedly saying they did not recognize European values in the Commission’s stance. The letter text has not been made public.
I know these people because I have been these people. During my time at the State Department, I was surrounded by some of the smartest people I’ve ever worked with. Most are truly dedicated to trying to make the world a better place and idealistically believe that they can help do that through U.S. diplomacy. Likewise, most Congressional staff I’ve served with are motivated by public service and are committed to helping people through their work.
By nature, staffers don’t stick their necks out. Their principals are the ones who are public-facing. Staffers work within the system, behind closed doors. So it is profound that staffers from three institutions feel compelled by this moment to speak up to criticize their bosses and the system.
A common theme in these dissents is a feeling that that doubling down on the status quo will only result in the same negative consequences that the status quo has proven to provide: cycles of conflict and suffering, living in fear, violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law. They convey a frustration that the moral components of policies are applied unevenly, even hypocritically.
Regrettably, the media tends to write about policy differences on Israel through a political lens, abetted by the cynical politics of Members of Congress who force votes on Israel to score political points. (If I were an Israeli citizen, I would be offended that American politicians treat the sovereign nation of Israel as a tool of domestic U.S. politics.) The professionals’ revolt suggests a frustration that substance isn’t getting its due attention.
I admit that I am assessing these staffers’ message through the lens of what I am trying to do through Unexemptional. There are other (albeit non-contradictory) ways to look at it, as Dan Drezner does today.
But I do think that disgust with U.S. foreign policy double standards is a part of it. Because the staffers are saying so themselves. And it is intuitive to me, having worked in these environments. These are professionals who draft talking points, briefing papers and speech drafts. At some point it becomes professionally humiliating and personally dispiriting to cite principles to frame a policy toward one region of the world and then be told you can’t employ those same principles in regard to Israel/Palestine.
“I encourage the Biden administration to hold itself to its own standard, which it does everywhere else in the world.” – Josh Paul to Politico, 10/20/2023
The staffers see every day that this hypocrisy has real-world negative consequences for the United States (or the EU in their case), as shown in today’ New York Times piece entitled, “Developing World Sees Double Standard in West’s Actions in Gaza and Ukraine.” They know that double standards are ultimately corrosive to our nation’s credibility and moral authority. I agree.