Q&A: Former Biden appointee says US policy is ‘dehumanising’ Palestinians

Al Jazeera speaks to Tariq Habash about why he resigned from the Biden administration amid Israel’s war on Gaza.

Tariq Habash says it was “the only thing” he could do.

A Palestinian American and political appointee in the United States Department of Education, Habash drew headlines last week when he became the second official to publicly resign from the administration of President Joe Biden over its response to the war in Gaza.

Since October, Israel has bombarded the Palestinian enclave, killing more than 23,210 people. But the White House has continued to voice staunch support for Israel, its top ally in the Middle East.

Habash said he resigned because he could no longer “represent an administration that does not value all human life equally”.

“I cannot stay silent as this administration turns a blind eye to the atrocities committed against innocent Palestinian lives, in what leading human rights experts have called a genocidal campaign by the Israeli government,” he wrote in his resignation letter.