CBS’s 60 Minutes put together a piece on Sunday about the 13 U.S. government officials who have resigned in protest over the role the country has played in helping Israel battle Hamas. Throughout the report, viewers were left to conclude that the best way to fight terrorism is to surrender to it and that terrorists should run U.S. foreign policy because our decision to help Israel fight back makes them mad.
If, after 15 months of war, you are still uncritically citing Hamas’s casualty statistics, it is safe to assume you have an agenda to push, so host Cecilia Vega did not get off to a great start when she declared, “In a study published late this past week, the medical journal, The Lancet, said the death toll in Gaza has likely surpassed 70,000 people. The war has led to charges of genocide against Israel and has been fueled by American weapons and billions of taxpayer dollars.”
Of course, “charges” don’t mean anything, especially considering those leveling them are urging the International Court of Justice to use a different definition than the legally accepted one. Still, in a voiceover, Vega added, “Children on top of rubble playing with ammunition casings. The same casings used to prop up these tent cities. A close look reveals where they come from. Printed on the side: ‘USA, DOD’ for Department of Defense. Across this now decimated 25-mile-long strip of land, America’s stamp is everywhere.
That cued up a clip of former diplomat Hala Rharrit, who claimed, “What is happening in Gaza would not be able to happen without U.S. arms. That’s without a doubt.”
After Vega recalled how Rharrit’s job was to report on how the Arab press and social media were reacting to the war, Rharrit continued, “I would show the complicity that was indisputable. Fragments of U.S. bombs next to massacres of mostly children. And that’s the devastation. It’s been overwhelmingly children.”
Vega followed up, “When you tried to speak out, vocalize what you saw happening in Gaza, you feel like you were told to shut up?”
Rharrit naturally agreed, “Yes. I would show images of children that were starved to death. In one incident, I was basically berated, "Don’t put that image in there. We don’t want to see it. We don’t want to see that the children are starving to death."
If viewers were wondering, “that sounds bad, but surely Hamas has to shoulder some of the blame,” Rharrit was not going to talk about that. For that, Vega moved on to Josh Paul, a former State Department official once in charge of signing off on U.S. weapons shipments to allied countries, “Ten days after the October 7th attacks, Paul became the first person in the Biden administration to publicly resign in protest.”
Paul lamented that Team Biden rushed weapons to the embattled ally, “After October 7th, there was no space for debate or discussion. I was part of email chains where there were very clear directions saying, ‘Here are the latest requests from Israel. These need to be approved by 3:00 p.m.’”
After Vega asked if “those immediate days” after October 7 were the wrong time for debate, Paul gave the impression that Israel should’ve responded to a terrorist attack that was on a per capita basis several times worse than 9/11 by surrendering, “I would argue exactly the opposite. I think the moment of October 7th was a moment of incredible worldwide solidarity with Israel. And had Israel leveraged that moment to press for a real, just and lasting peace, I think we would be in a very different place now in which Israel would not be facing this increasing isolation around the world, and in which its hostages would be free.”
No country would just sit back and do nothing after over 1,000 of its citizens were slaughtered by a genocidal terrorist organization, but the delusions of the anti-Israel crowd were not done. Later, Vega reported that “the director of the FBI told Congress the war in Gaza has raised the threat of a terror attack at home.”
She further claimed, “The acting director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Brett Holmgren, told 60 Minutes that anti-American sentiment driven by the war in Gaza is at a level not seen since the Iraq War, and that groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS are recruiting on that sentiment, issuing the most specific calls for attacks on America in years.”
Rharrit returned to add, “The level of anger throughout the Arab world, and I’ll say beyond the Arab world, is palpable. Protests began erupting in the Arab world, which I was also documenting, with people burning American flags. This is very significant because we worked so hard after the war on terror to strengthen ties with the Arab world.”
Vega then asked her, “You believe that this has put a target on America’s back, you’ve said,” to which Rharrit answered, “A hundred percent.”
The implied solution Rharrit is offering is we should appease terrorists by letting them dictate American foreign policy so they have no reason to be mad at us. We do not take that approach with Russia, China, Iran, or North Korea, and we do not take that approach with Hamas. If that upsets some people, then it is a good thing they are no longer in the U.S. government.
Here is a transcript for the January 12 show:
CBS 60 Minutes
1/12/2025
7:39 PM ET
CECILIA VEGA: In a study published late this past week, the medical journal, The Lancet, said the death toll in Gaza has likely surpassed 70,000 people. The war has led to charges of genocide against Israel and has been fueled by American weapons and billions of taxpayer dollars. Tonight, you will see graphic images from inside Gaza.
You will also hear from State Department officials who quit their jobs, and their concerns about how far Washington is willing to go to support an ally who, they say, has conducted a war that runs counter to American values and threatens national security.
VEGA (voiceover): This is the scene filmed in May by CBS News in Gaza.
Children on top of rubble playing with ammunition casings. The same casings used to prop up these tent cities. A close look reveals where they come from. Printed on the side: “USA, DOD” for Department of Defense. Across this now decimated 25-mile-long strip of land, America’s stamp is everywhere.
HALA RHARRIT: What is happening in Gaza would not be able to happen without U.S. arms. That’s without a doubt.
VEGA (voiceover): Hala Rharrit was an American diplomat who spent nearly two decades posted in Asia, Africa and the Middle East, where she worked on human rights and counterterrorism.
She was stationed in Dubai on October 7th, where part of her job was to monitor Arab press and social media to document how America’s role in the war was perceived in the Middle East. “We’ve obtained daily reports,” Rharrit sent to senior leadership in Washington, “containing gruesome images and her warnings.”
RHARRIT: I would show the complicity that was indisputable. Fragments of U.S. bombs next to massacres of mostly children. And that’s the devastation. It’s been overwhelmingly children.
VEGA: When you tried to speak out, vocalize what you saw --
HALA RHARRIT: Yes.
CECILIA VEGA: -- happening in Gaza, you feel --
HALA RHARRIT: Yes.
CECILIA VEGA: --like you were told to shut up?
HALA RHARRIT: Yes. I would show images of children that were starved to death. In one incident, I was basically berated, "Don’t put that image in there. We don’t want to see it. We don’t want to see that the children are starving to death."
…
VEGA (voiceover): Ten days after the October 7th attacks, Paul became the first person in the Biden administration to publicly resign in protest.
JOSH PAUL: After October 7th, there was no space for debate or discussion. I was part of email chains where there were very clear directions saying, "Here are the latest requests from Israel. These need to be approved by 3:00 p.m."
VEGA: Expedited?
PAUL: Correct.
VEGA: Where were these orders to green-light weapons transfers coming from? How high up did this go?
PAUL: This came from the president, from the secretary, and from those around them.
VEGA: There are people who might argue that this isn’t a time for debate, particularly in those immediate days in the aftermath of October 7th.
PAUL: I would argue exactly the opposite. I think the moment of October 7th was a moment of incredible worldwide solidarity with Israel. And had Israel leveraged that moment to press for a real, just and lasting peace, I think we would be in a very different place now in which Israel would not be facing this increasing isolation around the world, and in which its hostages would be free.
…
VEGA (voiceover): But the director of the FBI told Congress the war in Gaza has raised the threat of a terror attack at home.
CHRISTOPHER WRAY: We’ve seen the threat from foreign terrorists rise to a whole another level after October 7th.
VEGA (voiceover): The acting director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Brett Holmgren, told 60 Minutes that anti-American sentiment driven by the war in Gaza is at a level not seen since the Iraq War, and that groups like al-Qaeda and ISIS are recruiting on that sentiment, issuing the most specific calls for attacks on America in years.
RHARRIT: The level of anger throughout the Arab world, and I’ll say beyond the Arab world, is palpable. Protests began erupting in the Arab world, which I was also documenting, with people burning American flags. This is very significant because we worked so hard after the war on terror to strengthen ties with the Arab world.
VEGA: You believe that this has put a target on America’s back, you’ve said.
RHARRIT: A hundred percent.
VEGA: Those are strong words.
HALA RHARRIT: Yes. I don’t say them lightly. And I say it as someone that myself has survived two terrorist attacks. My first assignment was in the U.S. Embassy in Yemen. I survived a mortar attack. I say it as someone who has worked intensely on these issues and has intensely monitored the region for two decades.
VEGA (voiceover): Multiple diplomats we spoke with say the U.S. policy on Gaza has led to widespread dissent at the State Department. A rarely used method of sending cables to the Secretary of State, created during the Vietnam War so employees could voice objection, has received a record number of submissions over Gaza.
Thirteen officials, including from the State Department, White House, and Army have publicly resigned in protest.
