When Maryam Hassanein joined the U.S. Department of the Interior as an appointee of the Biden administration in January, she hoped that Israel’s war on Gaza would end soon. But when the United States authorized a billion-dollar arms shipment to Israel in the spring, Hassanein decided to use his voice to effect change. He was inspired by the tenacity of students involved in the anti-war movement at nearby George Washington University, where he had participated in pro-Palestinian demonstrations.
“Seeing the strength of students leading that movement across the country really made me think about what I should do,” Hassanein said, “and how I can speak out much more to stop the massacres in Palestine.”
So last month, Hassanein joined at least a dozen officials divorced By the Biden administration because the United States has supported Israel’s war in Gaza, where more than 40,000 Palestinians have died since October 7, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. Hassanein said he sees “the value of having your voice heard at the public level when it’s not heard working there.”
In a Zoom call hosted by the civil rights group Council on American-Islamic Relations (Cair), Hassanein and Hala Rharrit, a former US State Department diplomat who resigned in April, shared their experiences of witnessing Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian violence. which they say guides the Biden administration’s Middle East policy.
Rharrit resigned after nearly two decades with the State Department because he said he saw US officials continue to dehumanize Palestinians after the October 7 attack on Israel by Hamas. Robust discussion was once welcome in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Rharrit said, but the situation changed 10 months ago. “I’ve never personally encountered a situation where there was fear of retaliation, silencing, self-censorship,” he said. “For me personally, in the 18 years I’ve served, this is the first time.”
When Rharrit contacted Arab media, he said he was directed to repeat the narrative that Israel had the right to defend itself. And when he gave a presentation to other diplomats, he said he was disappointed because he wanted to include a picture of a Palestinian child starving to death. In a group discussion where diplomats discussed Egyptian journalists, he said one colleague expressed disbelief that the Egyptians built the pyramids.
“This is a failed policy,” Rharrit said of U.S. aid to Israel, “and we Americans and taxpayers who send these bombs and these weapons need to get together and say, ‘Enough is enough.'”
In her role in the interior design department, Hassanein joined other employees in signing letters, participating in protests and vigils, but soon found her voice was not being heard, she said. “I realized that I don’t want to be a Muslim in a public service position just to be a Muslim in a public service position,” he added. “I want my perspective and my background and the fact that I represent the Muslim communities in the country to be really taken into account.” He also lamented the Democratic National Convention banning Georgia state representative Ruwa Romman from speaking.
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Since his public resignation last month, Hassanein said he has not heard back from his former employer. The Ministry of the Interior and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The Harris-Walz campaign is not doing enough to change the course of Gaza politics, Hassanein said. She is undecided whether she will vote for Harris in November and wants to see a significant change in US policy on Gaza before voting for him. In a call to action, Cair encouraged attendees to call on the State Department and the White House to comply with US law by ending arms transfers to Israel.
“My hope is that as horrifying as all of this has been, we will eventually come out of it knowing what we need to do — the healing we all need to treat each other with humanity, dignity and respect, regardless of background,” Rharrit said.
