Exclusive: Veteran State Department Official Says She Quit Over Biden Administration “Twisting The Facts” On Gaza

"In the end, I know the difference between right and wrong," Stacy Gilbert told HuffPost in her first interview since resigning.

Veteran State Department official Stacy Gilbert quit the agency because the Biden administration is “twisting the facts” to make a “patently, demonstrably, quantifiably false” claim that Israel is not blocking humanitarian aid for Gaza in order to justify his administration’s continued military support to the country, she told HuffPost on Wednesday in the first interview since her resignation.

Gilbert, who has over 20 years experience in U.S. policy toward global crises and conflicts, said she is convinced Israel’s U.S.-backed operation in the Palestinian enclave is violating international humanitarian law — particularly by restricting supplies for its civilian population. She added she sincerely believed President Joe Biden was serious about ensuring Israel complied with international and U.S. laws that shield civilians in war zones, but she had experienced deep disappointment that led her to conclude it was futile to continue trying to improve America’s policy in Gaza from inside the government.

Gilbert told her colleagues she was quitting May 10, immediately after the Biden administration released a report on Israeli conduct on which she had worked. Referring to that assessment, which Biden had promised would probe Israeli compliance with American and international law, Gilbert told HuffPost: “It just doesn’t matter. … We could have AI write the report because it is not informed by reality or context or the informed opinions of subject matter experts.”

Gilbert’s resignation is a fresh example of dissent and resignations among national security figures reflecting deep frustration over Biden’s Gaza policy within his administration. It is especially notable given her position: She was most recently a senior civil military adviser at the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration, which is the agency’s chief humanitarian office and features heavily in internal policy discussions over Gaza.

Asked about Gilbert’s critiques of her former employer and her characterization of the report, a State Department spokesperson told HuffPost via email: “We do not comment on personnel issues, but we have made clear we welcome diverse points of view and believe it makes us stronger. The Secretary and other Department leadership will continue to seek out a wide range of views because we believe it improves our policy making process. We continue to press the government of Israel to avoid harming civilians and urgently expand humanitarian access to and inside Gaza.”