Is the American effort to establish peace in the Middle East through weapons going to end in failure? Josh Paul's resignation, among many other things, brought this question to the fore. Josh Paul, 45, an American who grew up in London and speaks with a distinct British accent, resigned from the Political-Military Affairs Bureau of USA State Department. He worked for more than 11 years at the State Department as a civilian employee on US arms deliveries to various countries around the world. He witnessed the sending arms to many troubled governments by the United States. He thought his actions were helping the United States. In a letter regarding his resignation posted on LinkedIn, Josh Paul condemned the Hamas attacks and wrote that he believes Israel's military response will only lead to more and greater suffering. Paul noted in his letter that while working with many countries in the region, he became particularly well-versed in Middle Eastern issues: he wrote his master's thesis on Israeli counterterrorism and civil rights, while working with U.S. security in Ramallah, the Palestinian Authority and the Israel Defense Forces (IDF)—has spent time with and has “deep personal ties” to both sides of the conflict. In the letter on Linkedin the former senior US State Department official has described the Biden administration's decision to send more weapons and ammunition to Israel as "intellectual bankruptcy" as the death toll from Hamas rockets and Israeli bombardments continues to mount.
Josh Paul, (now former) Director of Congressional and Public Affairs at the State Department's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs, also said in the letter posted on LinkedIn that the government “rushing” to provide arms to Israel was ‘shortsighted, destructive, unjust, and contradictory to the very values that US publicly espouse’.
According to the sentiments of an insider at the US State Department (like Josh Paul), the failure of US peacekeeping efforts in the Middle East "in the language of arms" is being brought about by the Joe Biden administration itself!
As of last week, from October 18 to 25, 2023, Josh Paul was hardly known outside US-related diplomatic and military circles. He resigned on Tuesday, October 19. In an interview with HuffPost's Akbar Shahid Ahmed on Monday, October 18, Josh Paul first detailed his resignation and the reasons for it. Paul had already been voicing his dissent with colleagues and on the social media site LinkedIn about sending US arms to Israel. However, his resignation from the US State Department has suddenly put him under the spotlight, particularly among journalists, observers and analysts curious about US arms policy to Israel. Paul described the State Department's Bureau of Political-Military Affairs as "the agency of the U.S. government most responsible for the supply and provision of arms to partners and allies."
Meanwhile, a Bengali translation of an article by Josh Paul in the Washington Post about the reasons for the resignation has been published in a widely circulated newspaper in Bangladesh. Before writing in the Washington Post (as I mentioned earlier), Josh Paul first explained his position on LinkedIn, then in an interview with HuffPost's Akbar Shahid Ahmed, afterwards in interview with Politico's Nahal Toosi, thereafter interview with PBS's Nick Shifrin, and next in interview with NPR's Rachel Treisman. In all these interviews Josh Paul offered his own explanation for the resignation. In addition to these interviews, John Ismay's report in the New York Times, Sharif Paget's report in CNN, Adam Gabbatt's report in The Guardian have discussed Josh Paul's resignation quite strongly.
The upcoming 12th National Parliament Elections in Bangladesh, US visa policy, and US’s intervention in any internal issues of Bangladesh, and various 'observations and analyses' for and against such interventions of US, weigh the 'talk shows' of the country's various television channels, and online and print media’s ‘columns'. In this context, like other countries of the world, the political circles of Bangladesh are also divided. Needless to say, that the division of political circles of Bangladesh centered on the Hamas-Israel war, maintains both ‘eloquence’ and ‘silence’!
Awami League has long been vocal in favor of Palestinian self-determination. Awami League's support for the Palestinians continues during the current Hamas-Israel war. But the BNP is completely silent about Palestine and Al-Aqsa Mosque in the war! Although the BNP is 'silent' about Palestine and the rights of Muslims in Al-Aqsa Mosque, observers believe that around 85 to 90 percent of the public opinion in Bangladesh is in favor of the right of Palestinians’ self-determination and the establishment of Muslim rights in Al-Aqsa Mosque. Therefore, if we calculate the support based on the public opinion of Bangladesh for Hamas-Israel war - it will be seen that Awami League is getting 85 to 90 percent support of the public opinion on behalf of the Palestinians. On the contrary, BNP, especially because of not supporting the Palestinian side, may share 5 to 10 percent of public opinion!
Therefore, it can be said that most of the conscious circles of Bangladesh are interested in Josh Paul's resignation from US state department. In fear of losing the support of America in the form of 'avatar', BNP has taken a stand against the Palestinians, that is, against the majority of the public opinion in Bangladesh! The Bangladeshi newspaper that published the Bengali translation of the Washington Post's writing about the reason for Josh Paul's resignation is the most popular among Bengali-speaking readers! They don't print anything without the reader's demand or popularity! Therefore, it is also worth noting that only for the purpose of gaining the readership of Bangladesh, this newspaper has published the Bengali translation of Josh Paul's writing containing the very inside information of the US administration!
US State Department spokesman Matt Miller praised Josh Paul and State Department employees for having "different" beliefs. Matt Miller added, “We understand, we hope, we realize that different people working in this department have different political beliefs, different personal beliefs, different beliefs about what the policy of the United States should be.”
Diplomatic experts say Josh Paul's resignation will have no impact on the State Department policies of the Joe Biden administration. However, observers believe, in the wake of Hamas rocket attacks and Israeli bombings, Biden's supply of weapons to Israel, will not ensure peace and security in the Middle East. In his resignation letter, Josh Paul termed this failure as the "intellectual bankruptcy" of the US administration! Like Middle East, is the US State Department and US Ambassador Peter Haas's rush in Bangladesh going to fail?
Professor Dr. Arun Kumar Goswami, Director, Center for South Asian Studies, Dhaka. Former Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, and former Chairman, Department of Political Science, Jagannath University, Dhaka.
