Trump Is Gutting The State Department And Dragging Diplomats ‘Through The Mud’

Secretary of State Marco Rubio "succeeded [in creating] an environment where people wake up and don’t want to come in to work," a still-serving State Department official told HuffPost.

WASHINGTON — Full-blown famine is now unfolding in Gaza, thanks to Israeli aid restrictions backed by the U.S. Experts anticipate “rapidly accelerating mortality” — hunger that will kill many more Palestinians, adding to the toll of at least 111 who have already starved to death, including children with no preexisting conditions.

The key to stemming the bleeding is Israel lifting its siege of the Palestinian territory, which will likely only occur through an agreement with the Palestinian militant group Hamas, over the fate of its dozens of Israeli hostages. U.S. officials have been hoping to seal a deal by convincing the two sides to compromise on details of prisoner swaps and Israeli troop deployments. A bargain also, however, hinges on the broader question of Israel-Palestine’s future, and whether the parties feel the terms of an accord leave them well-positioned for what comes afterward. Gaza’s pain is the most urgent matter in the region, but other big concerns are looming too: Israel is moving to demolish 12 more Palestinian villages in the occupied West Bank, further hurting the prospect of establishing a future Palestinian state and undercutting hopes of long-term Israeli-Palestinian peace.

Observers of Israel-Palestine say Washington should be doing far more to prevent further devastation and future conflict, particularly as Israel’s chief and diplomatic backer. “It is in the absence of effective American leadership that we have seen the humanitarian situation in Gaza deteriorate, settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank rise, and Israeli hostages continue to suffer,” the advocacy group New Jewish Narrative said in a Wednesday statement.

The group noted that the foreign ministers of 25 other countries close to Israel this week issued a joint call to end the war in Gaza, saying: “As important as this collective statement is, the nations who issued it do not have the same level of influence as the United States of America.”

But for the last two weeks, the State Department’s office of Israeli Palestinian Affairs has had no director, because the person in that job was fired along with more than 1,300 other employees on July 11. Andrew Miller, the top State official for the region under President Joe Biden, told HuffPost the role was crucial, serving as the “desk officer” for the region and, given the significance of the Gaza war, producing a “disproportionate amount” of State Department analysis.