Ex-State Department Official Endorses ‘Uncommitted’ Vote In Michigan’s Primary

A former State Department official who resigned late last year over the Biden administration’s approach to Israel’s offensive in Gaza has joined the movement encouraging Michigan residents to vote “uncommitted” in the state’s Tuesday primary.

In a post on LinkedIn over the weekend, Josh Paul said he will “join those calling for voters” to select uncommitted instead of President Joe Biden on Michigan’s Democratic ballot.

“Even if you’re not planning on voting for Biden in November, voting uncommitted now strengthens the hand of activists (myself included) pressing the White House to change course,” he wrote. “Please do it this Tuesday!”

Last October, Paul quit the State Department’s bureau of political-military affairs, which oversees arms sales, after 11 years. At the time, he told HuffPost that he was unable to push for a more humane policy on Israel and Gaza from within the U.S. government. The Oct. 7 attack on Israel by Hamas militants killed about 1,200 people and resulted in hundreds of hostages, while Israel’s continued retaliation has killed almost 30,000 Palestinians in Gaza and displaced millions at risk of starvation and disease.

“When I came to this Bureau … I knew it was not without its moral complexity and moral compromises, and I made myself a promise that I would stay for as long as I felt the harm I might do could be outweighed by the good I could do,” Paul wrote in an open letter posted on LinkedIn when he resigned.

“In my 11 years I have made more moral compromises than I can recall, each heavily, but each with my promise to myself in mind, and intact,” he continued. “I am leaving today because I believe that in our current course with regards to the continued – indeed, expanded and expedited –