Education Department official Tariq Habash resigned from his position Wednesday with a letter stating that US President Joe Biden has turned “a blind eye to the atrocities committed against innocent Palestinian lives” in Gaza.
In a two-page letter to Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona, Habash, who is Palestinian American, outlined his reasons for leaving.
“[T]he actions of the Biden-Harris Administration have put millions of innocent lives in danger, most immediately for the 2.3 million Palestinian civilians living in Gaza who remain under continuous assault and ethnic cleansing by the Israeli government. Therefore, I must resign,” he said.
In the letter, Habash described himself as a descendent of Palestinian Christians who lived through the violent 1948 mass relocation effort to create the Israeli state.
“My grandparents, aunts, and uncles walked over 35 miles, from Yaffa to Lydda to eventually Ramallah, just to survive. For 75 years, my relatives have never been allowed to return to their familial homes,” he said.
The US has continued to supply Israel with resources to aid its offensive in the tiny Gaza Strip since the October 7 attack by Hamas militants. Last month, Biden said his commitment to Israel is “unshakeable,” while warning Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Israel is losing global support.
“Millions of Palestinians have faced decades of occupation, ethnic cleansing, and apartheid, and the Biden Administration’s passive acceptance of this status quo is wholly out of line with democratic values,” Habash said, adding that US military support has led to the deaths of children, journalists and medical professionals, “violat[ing] our moral obligation as stewards of our country’s tax dollars.”
He also criticised the Israeli government’s claim that it aims only to destroy Hamas rather than all of Gaza. According to the Hamas-run health authority in Gaza, more than 22,000 people have been killed since the current conflict began.
In the letter, Habash also encouraged the Education Department to protect students’ right to protest the war, noting how “alarming” the violence against Palestinian and Muslim Americans has been due to the conflict.
Habash was appointed in the Biden administration’s first two weeks to help lead the department’s Office of Planning, Evaluation and Policy Development, focusing on student loan borrowers. He previously campaigned for the president.
He is the second top official to quit over the US handling of Israel’s war in Gaza. Josh Paul, a veteran State Department official, resigned in protest in October after more than a decade spent working in part of the department that handles weapons deals.