‘No concern for Palestinian suffering’: Ex-official slams US’s Gaza policy
Mike Casey says he has never seen anything like it.
In fact, the former State Department official – who served as a deputy political counsellor at the US Office of Palestinian Affairs – described his experience as a diplomat in Jerusalem as a humiliation.
“It’s frankly embarrassing … to see just the way we give in to the demands of the Israeli government and continue to support what the Israeli government is doing even though we know it’s wrong,” Casey told Al Jazeera.
“And I’ve not seen that in any other country that I’ve served in.”
After four years in his post, Casey resigned in July over what he described as the US government’s unwavering support for Israel despite its devastating military campaign in the Gaza Strip.
His resignation – first reported by The Guardian newspaper this week – is the latest by a US official angered over President Joe Biden’s staunch military and diplomatic backing for Israel since the Gaza war began in October 2023.
Anti-Muslim hate crimes spike in Europe following Gaza war: Report
The European Islamophobia Report of 2023 says Israel’s war on Gaza has “functioned as a geopolitical catalyst of anti-Muslim racism in Europe”, with an increase in hate crimes and a rise in Islamophobic rhetoric and actions by European governments.
The report, which monitors 34 countries in Europe, said there has been a spike in the number of physical and verbal assaults on Muslims in the wake of the war, including in countries like Norway, Spain and Greece.
Several European governments have also framed pro-Palestine solidarity as terrorism, it said, and enforced restrictive measures, such as bans on demonstrations and fines on pro-Palestinian symbols.
In Germany, for instance, those publicly criticising Israel’s war in Gaza faced unprecedented media and political backlash, while in France, the government imposed fines of 135 euros ($140) for displaying items such as keffiyehs, certain attire, flags, or slogans associated with Palestinian solidarity, the report said.
In Denmark, too, the prime minister announced an investigation into whether pro-Palestinian protests promote terrorism and whether police and prosecutors should take action, it noted.
“No other political development has shaped the life of Muslims in 2023 as much as the war in Palestine,” it said. “While Palestine and Israel are primarily not a religious issue, part of the discourse has been to paint it as such and make the attack on Israel and the genocide of Palestinians into a war between two religious groups,” it said.
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