The American people have every right to hold public officials accountable for their records. That includes me, which is why I have sought to be available to journalists and to participate in public events since leaving my position as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Israeli-Palestinian Affairs in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs at the U.S. Department of State last June. Subjecting the policies of the Biden administration to evaluation and criticism, just like any other administration, is not only fair but healthy. I, myself, have offered critiques of specific choices and policies, most recently on 60 Minutes (full transcript). Public engagement and dialogue are the lifeblood of democracy.
However, vitriol directed at individual Biden administration officials is gratuitous and, in some cases, even dangerous to their safety. Policy disagreements aside, caricatures of Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan I have seen in the press or on social media are wholly inconsistent with the people I know. The same is true of Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield, for whom I worked at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations before taking on the Israeli-Palestinian portfolio, and many others I know. Debate and critique on policy choices should not be confused with unfounded attacks on character. Any accusation of indifference or wanton disregard on their part to the welfare of Palestinians is patently false.
I also have seen government colleagues who are perceived to be advocates for Palestinian rights accused of support for terrorism. These charges are equally false, if not also defamatory. I saw firsthand how the deaths and suffering of all victims, Palestinian and Israeli, weighed heavily on almost all administration officials. I do not think I am alone in saying my heart aches for all victims of the conflict and this feeling will not pass. Nor should it.
It is certainly valid to argue that more or different approaches should have been tried, as I have done, but I still believe that intentions matter. So, too, does intellectual honesty. I assessed that creating more daylight with the Netanyahu government could have delivered an earlier ceasefire, influencing the calculus within the Israeli coalition and strengthening our position to demand that our Arab partners impose more pressure on Hamas. But I also assess that there is a possibility I could be wrong. Secretary Blinken demonstrated appropriate introspection at his final press availability, saying, “Disappointments – yeah, of course, there are always many. There’s always the things that you didn’t get done. There’s always the could’ve, would’ve, should’ve that you ask yourself.”
I recognize that the fact that decision making is often more complex than can be perceived from outside of government will be of no solace to the families who have lost loved ones. Unfortunately, the tragedies of the past 15 months cannot be undone. Nevertheless, if the objective is to do better in the future, we will fail unless our arguments – whether defenses or criticisms – accurately account both for what happened and why. I believe that both supporters and opponents of U.S. policy on the Israel-Hamas conflict should agree on this goal.
We can and must do better in the future, whether it is the Israeli-Palestinian conflict or another foreign policy crisis. While there is no guarantee we will in fact do better, I hope that at the very least we are caught trying. We owe that not only to the American people but also to all those affected by our decisions. I believe the best hope for such meaningful exchanges of ideas is if the problems I have identified with the current discourse are rectified. With the pressing need to ensure full implementation of the ceasefire deal in Gaza, there is no time to waste.