Joe Biden Faces White House Rebellion

Joe Biden has been criticized by dozens of White House interns who are demanding that the president call for a permanent ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict.

In a letter first obtained by NBC News, more than 40 interns who work at the White House and other branches of the executive office accuse Biden of having "ignored" the "pleas of the American people" by not calling for an end to the war.

The armed wing of the Palestinian political party Hamas led the deadliest Palestinian attack on Israel in history on October 7, killing at least 1,200 people. Israel declared it was at war with Hamas and launched its heaviest-ever airstrikes on Gaza. More than 15,890 Palestinians, a majority of them women and children, have been killed since the war began, the Associated Press reports, citing the Health Ministry in Gaza, which does not differentiate between civilian and militant deaths.

Biden has repeatedly rejected calls for a permanent ceasefire to end the violence and is continuing U.S. support for Israel, including demanding further military aid, amid its renewed attacks against Hamas following an end to a recent seven-day ceasefire between the two sides.

"We, the undersigned Fall 2023 White House and Executive Office of the President interns, will no longer remain silent on the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people," the letter reads.

The White House has been contacted for comment via email.

"We are Palestinian, Jewish, Arab, Muslim, Christian, Black, Asian, Latine, White, and Queer. We heed the voices of the American people and call on the Administration to demand a permanent ceasefire. We are not the decision makers of today, but we aspire to be the leaders of tomorrow, and we will never forget how the pleas of the American people have been heard and thus far, ignored."

The letter states that the "ongoing violence perpetrated by the Israeli government" is resulting in the targeting of Muslims and Arabs in the U.S., including the shooting of three Palestinian students in Vermont and the murder of a six-year-old Palestinian boy in Chicago. The interns said such acts of violence are "inconsistent" with the Biden administration's principles and the national strategies to combat antisemitism and Islamophobia.

"We were horrified by the brutal October 7th Hamas attack on Israeli civilians, and we are horrified by the brutal and genocidal response by the Israeli government, funded by our American tax dollars, which has killed over 14,000 innocent Palestinian civilians in Gaza, a large percentage of whom are children," the letter adds.

"While the Administration expressed support for the humanitarian pause, we maintain that anything other than a complete halt of Israel's mass slaughter of innocent civilians in the Gaza Strip will simply not suffice.

"We urge the Biden-Harris Administration to call for a permanent ceasefire now, a release of all hostages including Palestinian political prisoners, and to support a diplomatic solution that will put an end to the illegal occupation and the Israeli apartheid, in accordance with international law and for a free Palestine."

Biden not calling for a ceasefire is putting him at odds more with progressive members of the Democratic Party, as well as the general public.

On Tuesday, a Data for Progress poll found that a majority of likely voters (61 percent), including more than three-quarters of Democrats (76 percent), support the U.S. calling for a permanent ceasefire to end the violence in Gaza.

There are also concerns that Biden is at risk of alienating potential voters in the 2024 election by not backing a permanent ceasefire.

A group of Muslim leaders in several key 2024 swing states such as Michigan, Georgia and Pennsylvania have recently announced the #AbandonBiden campaign over anger at the president's response to the Israel-Hamas conflict.

"We believe that we are not going to allow this country to continue to uplift the military industrial complex and continue to get us into wars and continue to not value life," organizer Jaylani Hussein told Newsweek.

An online petition from the Jewish Voice for Peace group urging Biden to call for a ceasefire has gained nearly 300,000 signatures.

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