Employees at the State Department privately called for 'more to punish Israel' in meetings at Foggy Bottom, according to a new report.
The listening session meetings started in February and have been hosted by Kurt Campbell, deputy secretary of state and former Indo-Pacific coordinator for the White House National Security Council,from the Biden administration’s position on supporting Israel, a key ally of the United States, after the Hamas-led Oct. 7 attack last year on the Jewish state.
“It was overwhelmingly calls, including from people I respect, we need to do more to sanction Israel, we need to do more to punish Israel, we need to be more seriously considering ways in which we can sanction them, condition aid, cut off aid, reduce weapons flows,” a foreign service officer said of the meetings, according to the report. “There were people whose issues don’t have anything to do with the conflict … who were making the case for why we need to do more to bash Israel.
The U.S. slapped Iran with new sanctions on Thursday in response to the attack, though Republican lawmakers continue to raise concerns about the Biden administration waiving sanctions on Iran that they say have led to billions of dollars flowing to Tehran. TheMonday that at least three recent members of an Iranian government-controlled propaganda network visited the Biden White House 10 times since 2022., there is a “failure of leadership in the U.S.
“We encourage all individuals to make their opinions known through appropriate channels,” the spokesperson said. “State Department leadership has spoken to this on several occasions, and these listening sessions are just one of the opportunities available for our workforce to convey their valued opinions.”
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