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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nUS President Joe Biden holds a press conference following a solidarity visit to Israel, on October 18, 2023, in Tel Aviv. Photo by BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n\n\n\n This story originally appeared in In These Times <\/a>on May 15, 2024. It is shared here with permission.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Invest in the future of journalism. Support The Real News Network <\/a>and amplify voices that matter. Join us in holding power to account. Your donation<\/a> to The Real News Network makes a difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Lily Greenberg Call, one of President Joe Biden\u2019s appointees, resigned from her position within the U.S. Department of the Interior on Wednesday in protest of how the administration is funding, fueling and enabling the Israeli genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Greenberg Call is the first Jewish appointee to resign from the Biden Administration in protest and told In These Times<\/em> that \u200b\u201cIt\u2019s time for us to stand up against what is happening to Palestinians in our name.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI have asked myself many times over the last eight months: what is the point of having power if you will not use it to stop crimes against humanity?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n In a four-page letter of resignation that Greenberg Call released publicly on Wednesday, she wrote that she \u200b\u201ccan no longer in good conscience continue to represent this administration amidst President Biden\u2019s disastrous, continued support for Israel\u2019s genocide in Gaza.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Join thousands of others who rely on our journalism to navigate complex issues, uncover hidden truths, and challenge the status quo with our free newsletter, delivered straight to your inbox three times a week<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the Associated Press, Greenberg Call is now \u200b\u201cat least the fifth mid- or senior-level administration staffer to make public their resignation in protest of the Biden administration\u2019s military and diplomatic support\u201d of the Israeli government\u2019s assault on Gaza.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cShe is the second political appointee to do so,\u201d according to the Associated Press, \u200b\u201cafter an Education Department official of Palestinian heritage [Tariq Habash] resigned in January.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In her letter of resignation<\/a>, Greenberg Call proudly declared that she was an American Jew and wrote that: \u200b\u201cMy family escaped antisemitic persecution in Europe and found refuge in America. They changed their names at Ellis Island and worked as farmers, peddlers, and salespeople. My grandparents could not go to college.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTwo generations later,\u201d she wrote, \u200b\u201cI have the honor of working as an appointee for the President of the United States. The weight of this position is not lost on me. This is the story of many people in my community: a story of survival, upward mobility, and fulfillment of the American Dream. And yet, I have asked myself many times over the last eight months: what is the point of having power if you will not use it to stop crimes against humanity?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Greenberg Call spoke with In These Times<\/em> Executive Editor Ari Bloomekatz on Wednesday afternoon, shortly after news broke of her resignation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This interview has been edited for length, order and clarity.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n ARI BLOOMEKATZ: <\/strong>When people are reading your letter of resignation, what is it that you want them to take away from it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n LILY GREENBERG CALL: <\/strong>The main one is that the President has the power to call for a cease-fire, to stop sending weapons to Israel, to condition aid and also to broker a hostage deal. I mean, if we care about the hostages, then we should stop bombing the area that they\u2019re in and we should get them out. And the Israeli government clearly is not making that a priority.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But for others, for other appointees and people in government, I hope that this inspires them to take a public stance for Palestinian lives, even if that means resigning. I also hope that people will start to listen and defer to Palestinians for moral guidance on this issue. I want to note that the first appointee to resign over this, back in January, was Palestinian American, my former colleague, Tariq Habash.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But for others, for other appointees and people in government, I hope that this inspires them to take a public stance for Palestinian lives, even if that means resigning.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n And then you know, I think, to the Jewish community, as I was saying earlier, I want us to really integrate that, it\u2019s time for us to stand up against what is happening to Palestinians in our name. I want us to listen to the families of Israeli hostages who are demanding that this end. And I want us to, for our sake, understand that we have to be a part of making this end and it is what we need to do\u2014 not just for Palestinians, but for ourselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n BLOOMEKATZ:<\/strong> You\u2019re not a stranger to the Biden Administration, even before you were appointed. These are people you\u2019ve worked for and that you\u2019ve helped elect and that it seems like you really believed in for a long time. What does it mean to you to resign from an administration you have spent so much time working to build?<\/p>\n\n\n\n GREENBERG CALL: <\/strong>You said it. I interned for Senator Harris when I was in college. She was always really inspiring to me. And then I moved to Iowa right after I graduated, a place I had never been before, to work for her campaign. And then moved to Arizona and was there from January through November of the general. <\/p>\n\n\n\n I was terrified of a Trump presidency and knew that I had to dedicate myself in 2020 to preventing that. And you know, I think that one thing that is so devastating about this is it seems like the President is not taking the threat of another Trump presidency seriously, because the political establishment is ignoring their constituents, which are the American people, 60% of whom want a cease-fire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My job as a public servant is to protect the American people and listen to them. That\u2019s part of the oath that I took. And I feel like I am here fulfilling that oath. And it seems like the President is not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s been very clear to me, what the right thing to do is here, and I think when you see people in charge not displaying that moral clarity and leadership, you know you have to take it on yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n BLOOMEKATZ: <\/strong>How long have you been thinking about resigning? How did you come to this decision?<\/p>\n\n\n\n GREENBERG CALL: <\/strong>It definitely was a long process, and I sought counsel from a lot of trusted people in my life. But I think everything that has happened in the last few weeks is what led me to making this choice now. In particular, the invasion of Rafah that is happening. The brutalization of students across the country and the President\u2019s focus on order instead of protecting people\u2019s right to freedom and assembly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s also really horrifying to see Jewish trauma weaponized as cover for genocide, and in particular, as an American Jew, to hear the President say things like Jews wouldn\u2019t be safe if there wasn\u2019t Israel.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s also really horrifying to see Jewish trauma weaponized as cover for genocide, and in particular, as an American Jew, to hear the President say things like Jews wouldn\u2019t be safe if there wasn\u2019t Israel. That\u2019s terrifying to me, like my family came here to find safety from antisemitism. We, as American Jews, have been able to thrive here. Of course we still experienced antisemitism, but to hear the U.S. president say that and to make us decide between our moral values and to frame it as about our safety is not right, as though Palestinian life and Jewish life are somehow at odds with each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s wrong. And it\u2019s not only wrong, it\u2019s dangerous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n BLOOMEKATZ:<\/strong> One of the things I\u2019ve been thinking about with your resignation is what it means for Jews to show leadership in this moment. Do you feel like a leader? Or like you\u2019re trying to be a leader with this resignation? How are you thinking about all of this right now?<\/p>\n\n\n\n GREENBERG CALL:<\/strong> I don\u2019t know if I thought of this as leadership necessarily. It became very clear to me that this was the decision, the thing that I had to do to maintain integrity. First and foremost, I could no longer stay and be representing the Biden administration. My job as an appointee is to serve at the pleasure of the President when I was morally disgusted by what is happening in Gaza, with American funding and American weapons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also the president\u2019s continued commitment to using the narrative of Jewish trauma and Jewish pain to provide cover for this genocide to continue to frame the narrative as about Jewish safety and Palestinian, not even freedom, just like existence and life are somehow things that we have to choose between. And I know that that\u2019s not true. I know that from my own experience, and I know from a broader perspective that the only thing that keeps Jews safe and anyone safe is multiracial democracy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This is not the narrative that I was taught in my Jewish community and growing up, and I\u2019ve been very lucky to find new community and find leadership and guidance from people. But to me, this is a manifestation of the Jewish values that I was raised with, that I learned in day school, that I was taught by my family and by Jewish leaders. <\/p>\n\n\n\n So even if they might not agree with me politically, I\u00a0am certain that this is in the spirit of our\u00a0tradition.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n ARI BLOOMEKATZ is Executive Editor at In These Times. He was previously the Managing Editor of Rethinking Schools and Tikkun magazines, and spent several years as a staff writer for the Los Angeles Times. Follow him @bloomekatz<\/a>.More by Ari Bloomekatz<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u201cIt\u2019s time for us to stand up against what is happening to Palestinians in our name,\u201d Lily Greenberg Call says in an interview with In These Times. BY\u00a0ARI BLOOMEKATZ MAY 16, 2024 (TheRealNews.com) US President Joe Biden holds a press conference following a solidarity visit to Israel, on October 18,… Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/therealnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/In-These-Times-logo.jpeg?resize=780%2C174&ssl=1\"){kind=logo}
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