“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,” Smith told The Intercept.
You aren’t allowed to go against Israel’s narrative silly!
It has already been established that:
- Israel wants to get rid of all Palestinians
- Hamas wants to get rid of all Israelis
- The US has mutual financial and armament interests with Israel
Good report, wrong target.
I mean, how does this presentation align with the USAID mission of bringing profit to US loan sharks who “invest” in poor countries?
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USAID staff cited the slide and discussion of international law as potential fodder for leaks, documents and emails Smith shared with The Intercept show.
“I thought it is really obscene that misinformation can go out freely out into the world [about Gaza], but I can’t talk about the reality of starving pregnant women,” said Smith, who worked as a contracted senior adviser at USAID on gender and material health.
In February, he submitted an abstract for his presentation — titled “An Intersectional Gender Lens in Gaza: Ethnicity, Religion, Geography, Legal Status, and Maternal/Child Health Outcomes” — which was accepted for the small USAID conference.
As The Intercept reported, USAID officials had urged Secretary of State Antony Blinken to find Israel’s commitments to international law were not credible based on its conduct in Gaza since October.
When officials in USAID’s Middle East bureau reviewed Smith’s presentation days before the event, they flagged the slide on international humanitarian law, in particular.
In an email with other USAID advisers, Yepsen, who did not respond to The Intercept’s inquiries, noted that “the NSM-20 report has made national news and Israel’s compliance remains an unresolved issue.”
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