Hundreds of U.S. officials criticized the Biden administration's support for Israel and called for a ceasefire in Gaza. As revealed by The New York Times, the president received two letters in which his own government's employees asked him to pressure the Israeli government to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.
The first letter, signed by 400 employees representing 40 federal institutions, began by condemning the attacks that Hamas committed against Israel on Oct. 7. Immediately after, they demanded that Biden support a ceasefire in Gaza:
We call on President Biden to urgently demand a cease-fire; and to call for de-escalation of the current conflict by securing the immediate release of the Israeli hostages and arbitrarily detained Palestinians; the restoration of water, fuel, electricity and other basic services; and the passage of adequate humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
'The overwhelming majority of Americans support a cease-fire'
The claims cited data that had been collected in a survey carried out in October. In it, 66% of respondents (including 80% of Democrats) agreed that the United States should pressure Israel to order a ceasefire. This, they explained, showed that "the overwhelming majority of Americans support a cease-fire." Along with this, the letter revealed, "Americans do not want the U.S. military to be drawn into another costly and senseless war in the Middle East."
The second letter, signed by 1,000 employees of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), had a similar message and, according to the NYT, also asked Biden to press for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. However, both letters are anonymous. According to The New York Times, it is because the people who signed the letters feel "concern for our personal safety and risk of potentially losing our jobs," and therefore, preferred to remain anonymous.
