Western Officials in Protest over Israel Gaza Policy

Agencies – Sudan Events 

A group of about 800 officials spanning the US, UK and EU have signed a public letter condemning the support of their governments for Israel’s war in Gaza.
It is the first time that officials from across Western countries have coalesced to criticize the levels of support their governments have given toward Israel, supporters.
The letter urges a change in direction by Western governments toward the war, with signatories warning that they tried to raise concerns internally but were rebuffed.
“There is a plausible risk that our governments’ policies are contributing to grave violations of international humanitarian law, war crimes and even ethnic cleansing or genocide.”
Of the roughly 800 signatories, 80 are from the US, with the majority working for the State Department.
One source said national-level officials from eight NATO member states, as well as Sweden and Switzerland, had approved the letter.
Officials from EU institutions make up the highest number of signatories, followed by the Netherlands and the US.
“The political decision-making of Western governments and institutions has created unprecedented tensions with the expertise and duty that apolitical civil servants bring to bear,” he said.
“One-sided support for Israel’s atrocities in Gaza, and a blindness to Palestinian humanity, is both a moral failure and, for the harm it does to Western interests around the globe, a policy failure.”
Within the EU dissent has also mounted, with hundreds of officials representing the bloc’s humanitarian and aid agenda also penning similar letters last year to EU leaders.
Only several EU member states have publicly called for a ceasefire in Gaza or a moderation of European support toward Israel, most prominently Ireland, Spain and Belgium.
The statement is signed by civil servants from the US, the EU and 11 European countries including the UK, France and Germany.