Jewish Officer And Other Officials Resign To Protest Gaza War

An American Jewish military intelligence officer has resigned to protest U.S. support for Israel in its war against Hamas in Gaza, saying that what is happening to the Palestinians there reminds him of the Holocaust.

According to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA, June 6, 2024), “ Major Harrison Mann submitted his resignation to the military and to the Defense Intelligence Agency in November….he said, ’As the descendant of European Jews, I was raised in a particularly unforgiving moral environment when it came to the topic of bearing responsibility for ethnic cleansing….My grandfather refused to ever purchase produce manufactured in Germany—-where the paramount importance of ‘never again’ and the inadequacy of ‘just following orders’ were oft repeated,’ Mann wrote in the letter.”

Mann continued, “I am haunted by the knowledge that I failed those principles. But I also hope that my grandfather would afford me some grace, that he would still be proud of me for stepping away from this war, however belatedly.” Mann told the JTA that he was not saying that the war in Gaza was the same as the Holocaust: “I think there’s no benefit in weighing tragedies against each other, and it’s not what I’m trying to do. Obviously, the Holocaust was much bigger, but that doesn’t mean that smaller massacres of innocent people (also) shouldn’t happen.”

Mann also said his thinking was inspired in part by his experience visiting Yad Vashem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial, while participating in training for U.S. intelligence officers. He recalled seeing the photograph of Jewish U.S. soldiers leading a prayer service for liberated prisoners at Buchenwald. He recalled, “That was the most proud I ever felt to be in the same Army as these men. It’s hard not to think back to that when we are seeing —-again—-photos of starved, emaciated children and burned corpses. I am now contributing to that instead of being the ones who liberated them.”

Mann’s resignation came thirteen years into his military career, which began after he graduated from the College of William and Mary in 2011.

The first Jewish staff member to publicly resign was Lilly Greenberg Call, a special assistant to the chief of staff of the Department of the Interior. She said, “There are so many others who feel this way.”

A number of staff members of all faiths have resigned. Josh Paul, the first State Department official to resign, said, “This is not just a story of bureaucratic complicity or ineptitude—-there are people signing off on arms transfers…people turning a blind eye…people who could be speaking up, people who have an awesome responsibility to do good, and a lifelong commitment to human rights—-whose choice is to let the bureaucracy function as though it were business as usual.” Andrew Miller, the deputy assistant secretary for Israeli- Palestinian affairs at the State Department, resigned. He criticized the Biden administration’s “bear hug” approach to the government of Israel, and apparent indifference to the massive slaughter of civilians in Gaza with U.S. provided weapons. *