Samantha Power, the U.S. Agency for International Development administrator, told Amna Nawaz, of the PBS NewsHour program, that she is proud of staff members who frequently criticize the Jewish state.
Nawaz, who works for a publicly funded, nonprofit news organization, asked Power, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, about criticism she has received from within her own agency.
“Staffers on your team who express a frustration with what they see as a hypocrisy of U.S. foreign policy,” Nawaz said. “That the U.S. continues to supply humanitarian aid on a large scale to try to get that into the people of Gaza, at the same time that it’s supplying Israel with weapons to continue to wage that war.”
Nawaz added that some of Power’s staffers “have asked you about what they see as the Biden administration’s being complicit in what they see as genocide being waged by Israel in Gaza.”
“One of the things they point out is the fact that you wrote a book on genocide—they’ve called on you to speak out or to resign,” Nawaz said. “How do you handle that kind of frustration within your own agency, and what are you telling your staffers?”
Power said that USAID “is an incredibly mission-driven agency, where people come to work every day to save lives, to improve lives. It’s honestly inspiring to work, including among those people who criticize me, they’re incredibly talented people.”
“They could work in the private sector. Instead, they come to work every day to help people like the people who are suffering in Gaza. More than 40,000 civilians have been killed in Gaza, more than 13,000 children, more than 300 aid workers,” added Power, who has drawn criticism in the past for citing unverified Hamas statistics.
“I would honestly be disappointed if my staff were not in churn and pressing for more, and, I just feel lucky that I’m in the government, in the room, engaging the Israelis, working with the team that’s pushing for a ceasefire,” Power said. “Because fundamentally that’s what’s needed most of all. Because, clearly, none of us can be satisfied with the way things are in Gaza.”
In late February, Power did not mention Hamas stealing aid or posing a danger to aid workers when she discussed the challenges of operating in Gaza.
“Aid workers are confronting extreme danger every day—from IDF military operations, organized criminals and even desperate civilians increasingly overrunning trucks,” she wrote, “and still they are working tirelessly to help those in need.”
