When Maryam Hassanein joined the US Department of the Interior as Biden’s administrator in January, she hoped that Israel’s war on Gaza would end quickly. But when the US approved a $1 billion arms transfer to Israel in the spring, Hassanein decided to use her voice to bring about change. She was inspired by the resilience of students involved in the anti-war movement at nearby George Washington University, where she had attended pro-Palestinian rallies.
“When I saw the power of the students leading the movement across the country, I really started thinking about what I should do,” Hassanein said, “and how I can advocate much more for an end to the massacre in Palestine.”
So last month, Hassanein joined the ranks of at least a dozen officials who resigned from the Biden administration over U.S. support for Israel’s war in Gaza, where more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed since Oct. 7, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Hassanein said she saw “value in having your voice heard on a public level when it’s not being heard while you’re working there.”
In a Zoom call hosted Tuesday by the civil rights group Council on American-Islamic Relations (Cair), Hassanein and Hala Rharrit, a former U.S. State Department diplomat who resigned in April, shared their experiences of the Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian hostility they say is driving the Biden administration’s policies in the Middle East.
Rharrit resigned after nearly two decades at the State Department because she said she witnessed U.S. officials consistently dehumanizing Palestinians after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel. Vigorous debate was once welcomed at the State Department, Rharrit said, but that changed 10 months ago. “I’ve never personally experienced a situation where there was fear of retaliation, there was silencing, there was self-censorship,” she said. “For me personally, this is the very first time in the 18 years that I’ve served.”
When she spoke to Arab media, Rharrit said she was told to repeat a narrative that Israel had the right to defend itself. And when she gave a presentation to other diplomats, she said she was criticized for wanting to include a photo of a Palestinian child dying of starvation. In a group chat where diplomats were talking about Egyptian journalists, she said a colleague expressed disbelief that the Egyptians built the pyramids.
“This is a failed policy,” Rharrit said of U.S. aid to Israel, “and we as Americans and as taxpayers who are sending these bombs and weapons need to have a collective voice and say enough is enough.”
In her role at the Interior Ministry, Hassanein and other staffers signed letters, attended rallies and vigils, but she quickly realized her voice wasn’t being heard, she said. “I realized I don’t just want to be a Muslim in public service just to be a Muslim in public service,” she added. “I want my perspective and my background and the fact that I’m a representative of Muslim communities in the country to really be considered.” She also decried the Democratic National Convention’s denial of speaking time to Georgia state Rep. Ruwa Romman.
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Since her public resignation last month, Hassanein said she has not received a response from her former employer. The Interior Ministry and the Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Harris-Walz campaign is not doing enough to change the course of Gaza policy, Hassanein said. She is undecided about whether she will vote for Harris in November and wants to see a clear shift in US Gaza policy before she votes for her. In a call to action, Cair encouraged attendees to demand that the State Department and the White House uphold US law by ending arms transfers to Israel.
“I hope that as horrible as this has been, we come out of it with a sense of the things that we need to do — the healing that we all need to do to treat each other with humanity, dignity and respect, regardless of our background,” Rharrit said.
