Army officer resigns commission over US support for Israel, killing of civilians in Gaza

A U.S. Army officer assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency resigned from his place in protest over the United States’ support of Israel in its warfare towards Hamas in Gaza. 

The Army confirmed to Fox News that Maj. Harrison Mann requested to resign from his place in November. 

“The policy that has never been far from my mind the last 6 months is nearly the unqualified support for the government of Israel, which has enabled and empowered the killing and starvation of tens of thousands of innocent Palestinians,” Mann wrote on his LinkedIn web page not too long ago. 

“It is clear that this week, some of you will still be asked to provide support — directly or indirectly — to the Israeli military as it conducts operations into Rafah and elsewhere in Gaza. I am sharing it now in the hope that you too will discover you are not alone, you are not voiceless, and you are not powerless,” Mann continued in his submit. 

STATE DEPARTMENT CRITICIZES ISRAEL’S ATTEMPTS AT ‘MITIGATING CIVILIAN HARM’ IN GAZA WAR: REPORT

According to a press release from the U.S. Army Public Affairs, Mann was commissioned into the Army in 2011 as an Infantry Officer and is at present assigned to the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), Bolling AFB as a Foreign Area Officer.  

The Army mentioned Mann was deployed to Tunisia, Bahrain, Kuwait and South Korea throughout his profession.

“Maj. Harrison Mann actually requested an unqualified resignation from his commission on Nov. 29, 2023.  An unqualified resignation is a voluntary action for officers to be discharged from service and can be requested for any reason after completion of service obligations,” a press release from U.S. Army Public Affairs learn. 

Mann’s request to resign, which was first reported by the New York Times, was authorized in January and can go into impact on June 3. 

WHITE HOUSE CONSIDERS ACCEPTING SOME PALESTINIANS FROM GAZA AS REFUGEES AMID ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR

U.S. President Joe Biden has demonstrated unwavering support for Israel’s safety over a half century in public life. In this photograph, Biden attends a gathering with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as he visits Israel amid the continued battle between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 18, 2023.  (REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein/File Photo)

Mann’s resignation comes because the U.S. State Department on Friday criticized Israel’s use of U.S-supplied arms in a manner that could be “inconsistent” in “mitigating civilian harm” in the warfare in Gaza. 

A report obtained by Fox News Digital, which was sent to Congress on Friday, admitted that “Israel has had to confront an extraordinary military challenge: Hamas has embedded itself deliberately within and underneath the civilian population to use civilians as human shields.”

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The report added that “it is often difficult to determine facts on the ground in an active war zone of this nature and the presence of legitimate military targets across Gaza.”

Nearly 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict, together with many ladies and youngsters, in line with the Palestinian authorities. 

Fox News Digital’s Brie Stimson contributed to this report.