‘She’s not telling the truth about war crimes’: US official resigns over Gaza war and hits out at boss Samantha Power

Alex Smith, a public health expert working in the humanitarian field, read all of Samantha Power’s books before he joined the agency she now leads. He carried around copies with him, and even hosted a book club in Rome when she released her memoir in 2019.

But this week, he delivered a blistering criticism of the woman he respected for years when he resigned from the US Agency for International Aid (USAID in protest over her failure to speak out against the same crimes she had built a career exposing.

“She has been a very passionate vocal advocate for human rights and specifically against genocide. So to see her not talk about international law now, about illegal acts that Israel is currently very publicly carrying out, it is very frustrating for me and a lot of staff,” Smith, who worked as a contractor at the agency for four years, told The Independent by phone.

Smith, who worked as a senior adviser on gender, maternal health, child health, and nutrition, became the ninth official to resign from the Biden administration over its unconditional support for Israel’s war in Gaza, and only the second to leave USAID — the agency devoted to humanitarian assistance.

He said Power’s refusal to name and blame Israel for blocking aid into Gaza, as a famine that threatens the lives of hundreds of thousands takes hold, was inconsistent with his values.

Specifically, he criticized Power for “not calling out what is causing it, and stating the very obvious fact that starvation of children is a war crime and a crime against humanity.”

But he also offered some insight into Power’s thinking and a possible explanation for why a prolific campaigner against genocide would self-censor at such a crucial time.

Smith said he believes that