1 March 2024

Samantha Power

Administrator

US Agency for International Development

1300 Pennsylvania Ave, NW

Washington DC 20004

United States of America

Dear Administrator Power,

Today marks the 147th day of the genocide in Gaza, and the 75th year of the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people. For the past 147 days, the Israeli military, drawing 15% of its military budget from the U.S. government and the largest recipient of U.S. military funding, has killed at least 30,000 lives in Gaza, including over 11,500 children. By the time you read this letter, these numbers will have increased. U.S.-funded bombs have decimated almost half of residential buildings in Gaza, robbing families and communities of their homes and places of worship. President Joe Biden has expressed his frustration at Israel failing to minimize civilian casualties, even when Israel's actions have directly followed the intentions expressed by its officials of eliminating the Palestinian people and their history, calling Gaza the "city of evil" and Palestinians "human animals". Despite the condemnation of international experts and officials around the world, and the order of the International Court of Justice for Israel to "take immediate steps to prevent genocide", Israel has made no such measure and instead, as of writing, is planning an assault on the southern city of Rafah, where it had told Palestinians to evacuate from North and Central Gaza "for safety". There, 1.4 million Palestinians who are taking refuge are at threat of being massacred.

We, as employees of USAID-funded projects across the Global South, condemn your silence and demand you speak up. We are individuals who have chosen this career to contribute to the betterment of lives around us and to justice. It is our labor that delivers you results and provide any significance to the USAID name. We will not stand by without calling out your hypocrisy. The U.S. Government cannot claim to "improve lives in the developing world" through USAID while funding the most well documented and live-streamed genocide at the same time. You cannot advertise that you support human rights and education and stand silent as your government bombs schools and children. We repeat, 11,500 children have been killed in the past four months, because of the U.S. Government. That is almost a hundred children per day.

We demand the following actions from USAID:

I. Publicly disavow President Biden's and the administration's stance on the genocide.

II. Condemn and demand an end to unrestricted U.S. military funding to Israel.

III. Demand an immediate ceasefire and unhindered access to humanitarian aid.

Administrator Power, it has been 147 days, and your silence rings louder each day. Regardless of the bureaucratic and political barriers USAID may be facing as a government agency, in the face of atrocities such as the ones inflicted on the Palestinians, silence is not an option. Thank you for your consideration of our demands, and as we continue to await your action, we quote the words of Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor:

“There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.”

Sincerely,

Employees of USAID-funded Projects across the Global South