(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
 . . . . . . . . . .



USAID Employee Loses Job For Presentation Mentioning Gazan Maternal Mortality Due to Starvation [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2024-06-01  

Shawn Musgrave of the Intercept reports on the forced resignation of Senior USAID advisor Alexander Smith because he mentioned the effect of starvation on pregnant Gazan mothers in the war in a PowerPoint presentation for the Global Gender Equality Conference. He lost his job in the context of the Administration’s equivocation regarding Israel’s self-declared compliance with International Humanitarian Law (IHL) under NSM-20 to qualify for continued arms transfers. The presentation in question vaguely touched on the increased mortality rates of Gazan women deprived of food and medicine due to Israel’s siege and attacks on hospitals within the framework of IHL without mentioning the state of Israel by name. The mere reference to IHL however, was sufficient to raise the hackles of the “censors” in the bureaucracy.

This article reveals how certain factions within the bureaucracy attempted to camouflage Israel’s violations of international humanitarian law and domestic law to enable the continued flow of deadly weapons. It is a sad commentary on how objective truth becomes the first casualty in a campaign to shield the Israeli regime from consequences for repeatedly violating international and domestic law in its war.

“Actively silencing discussion of Palestinian lives and the ongoing global health disaster is dehumanizing,” Smith wrote in a resignation letter to Power, “not only to the people of Gaza, but to the people of the United States who deserve to know the extent to which we are paying for and supporting crimes against Palestinians. What happened to me sends a very clear signal to staff: We don’t talk about Gaza.”

Read the article here: theintercept.com/...

[END]
---
[1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/6/1/2244138/-USAID-Employee-Loses-Job-For-Presentation-Mentioning-Gazan-Maternal-Mortality-Due-to-Starvation?pm_campaign=front_page&pm_source=latest_community&pm_medium=web

Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.

via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/