Former Biden administration officials who resigned over US policy on Gaza have urged Democratic candidates for the 2028 presidential nomination to denounce that policy and prevent those they hold responsible from returning to government.
Twelve former officials issued a joint statement on Wednesday under the name “Gaza Resignees”, saying they had quit their posts between late 2023 and 2024 because of what they described as the US government’s “illegal and unconditional support for Israel’s actions in Gaza”.
The group called on candidates to pledge that they would not appoint officials “directly responsible for enabling Israel’s military actions in Gaza”.
“The most basic level of accountability, the most minimal level of consequences, is to ensure that those who have wreaked so much harm from within the highest levels of our Government cannot return to it,” the statement said.
Calls for accountability over Gaza policy
The former officials said several architects of the Biden administration’s Gaza policy were attempting to “whitewash” their roles as the 2028 election approached. They alleged that those officials had failed to defend US and international law and were now seeking a return to policymaking.
The statement asked Democratic candidates to make three pledges, including upholding the US Constitution and acting in the national interest.
It also called for candidates to acknowledge what the group described as US complicity in Israel’s actions in Gaza through arms, funding and diplomatic backing.
The third pledge would commit a future administration to having “no space” for anyone who was an “architect, leader, defender, or key enabler, of the US policies of unconditional support to Israel that constitute complicity in a genocide”.
Several rights groups, experts, scholars and United Nations inquiries have assessed that Israel’s military campaign in Gaza amounts to genocide. Palestinian health authorities say at least 74,564 Palestinians have been killed and 175,770 injured since October 2023.
The Biden administration, which governed from 2021 to 2024, faced criticism from progressive lawmakers and activist groups over its policy during the conflict. US Representative Rashida Tlaib and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani have opposed continued US support for Israel.
