Anti-Israel staff should shut up or resign
Washington Examiner
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We disagree with former State Department Congressional and Public Affairs Director Josh Paul’s views on the Israel–Hamas war, but he made an appropriate and honorable decision last month to resign his post instead of work for an administration the policy of which he disliked.
“In my 11 years I have made more moral compromises than I can recall,” Paul wrote in his resignation letter, “each heavily, but each with my promise to myself in mind, and intact. I am leaving today because I believe that in our current course with regards to the continued — indeed, expanded and expedited — provision of lethal arms to Israel — I have reached the end of that bargain.”
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Paul’s dilemma is more common than people outside Washington may think, although the stakes are not usually as high as war, peace, and genocide. But there is a proper way to deal with disagreements between democratically elected officials and their unelected staff. Staff are expected to voice their opinions and disagree in the policy-making process, but once the appropriate elected official has made a decision, staff should shut up and do their jobs. If they find it morally repugnant, they should quit. Under no circumstance should unelected staff stay on payroll while anonymously undermining decisions made by their elected bosses. That’s what has become known as the “deep state.”
But it is happening across wide swaths of President Joe Biden’s administration. Given the president’s advanced age and mental frailty, it is an acute problem that cuts to the heart of our democracy.
The day after Paul resigned, 411 House Democratic staffers signed a letter demanding Biden force Israel to accept a ceasefire with Hamas. Actually, they did not “sign” but indicated their support anonymously. This is flatly wrong and unacceptable. The letter undermines policy in an unprincipled way, which has become a norm in our shabby political culture.
That House letter was followed up on Nov. 3 by another anonymous letter, this one from Democratic National Committee staff, that also contradicted Biden administration policy. On Nov. 6, a “dissent memo” from State Department staff was leaked to the press. On Nov. 11, dozens of House Democratic staff staged a walkout. On Nov. 13, more State Department dissent memos were leaked. Then, on Nov. 14, a letter signed by 400 officials, all appointed by Biden across 30 different agencies, was released.
This is a covert mutiny over Biden’s proper decision to support our ally Israel over our terrorist enemy Hamas. If staffers feel strongly that Biden is wrong, they should resign.
Continuing to draw their pay while undermining the work they are paid to support is cowardly and unprincipled. The problem is compounded by reports that many of Biden’s own staff believe he does not have the capacity to do the job.
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He was elected because he was advertised to be a centrist. His support for Israel as it is under terrorist attack fits this centrism. But staff appointed by Biden are far younger and more radical than either the president or the voters who elected him.
Biden needs to summon what strength he has, reassert control over his administration, and start firing the rebels.