Enabling genocide? Former Biden officials reflect on the president’s legacy | Joe Biden News

While working as a contractor and senior advisor for the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), Alex Smith had a broad mandate.

It was tasked with offering insight into issues related to gender, infectious diseases, nutrition, and maternal and child health.

And all these issues came together in Gaza, like Israeli victories unrolled. The siege limited access to food, water and medicine, closing hospitals and medical units. The United Nations has also repeatedly warned that the north of Gaza is on “immediate” risk from hunger.

At least according to the non-profit organization Save the Children 3,100 children children under the age of five have been killed in Gaza since October. In a survey of children in that age group, the non-profit organization found that nearly 20 percent of them suffered from acute malnutrition. A further 4 percent are faced with severe acute malnutrition.

The UN also found that it was assessed 46,300 pregnant women in Gaza they were struggling with “crisis levels” of hunger.

Smith decided to raise the alarm within his agency. He said he wrote emails to his superiors, including Samantha Poweradministrator of USAID — all to no avail.

The final straw, Smith said, was when senior leadership backed out of his presentation on maternal and child mortality among Palestinians, despite initially agreeing to let him speak.

Ahead of the presentation, he said his slides were scrutinized and he was given detailed instructions on what language to use.

He recalled being told not to refer to Arab citizens of Israel as “Palestinians,” even if they identified themselves as such, and to avoid phrases like “on the Gaza border.” Even the map of Gaza was deemed “unacceptable”.

“It was all very Orwellian,” Smith said, referring to British dystopian novelist George Orwell. “It’s mostly straight from the pages of 1984.”

After the presentation was canceled, Smith said he had to choose: resign or face being fired. He chose the former.

He currently works for the think tank, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, collecting evidence for the courts.

As he reflects on his time in the Biden administration, Smith notes a stark contrast between Biden’s support for war-torn Ukraine and his lack of support for Gaza, where entire neighborhoods have been razed to the ground.

“When we talk about Ukraine, we can condemn the bombing of hospitals. We can talk about the resilience of people who are attacked. We can talk about the perpetrators attacking them,” Smith said.

“But when it comes to Gaza, we are not talking about these people. We have no plans to rebuild their health systems.”

When he voted in the 2024 presidential race, Smith knew he couldn’t support Biden’s running mate, Harris, because he feared a continuation of the president’s policies.

His home state of Maine uses a ranked-choice system, which allows residents to offer their support to more candidates. Smith ranked Harris as his final choice on his ballot, behind a third-party candidate Cornel West and Jill Stein.

Smith explained that he has a bleak view of Biden’s legacy that will be watched for years to come. He will be remembered as the American president who invented the genocide of children in Gaza.