Federal Workers to Protest Biden's Israel Policy

Federal government workers reportedly are planning a daylong hunger strike to protest President Joe Biden's stand with Israel policy and to highlight a humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

Feds United for Peace — comprised of several dozen government employees who also organized an office walkout in early January — told the Guardian its members will be dressed in black, wearing keffiyeh scarves or other symbols of solidarity with Palestine during the protest Thursday.

One federal worker told the Guardian that the "day of fasting" is a response to Israel's use of "starvation as a weapon of war by intentionally withholding food from entering Gaza."

A U.N. report in December found more than half a million people in Gaza are "starving" because of not enough food entering the territory since the war began.

The Guardian reported that members of Feds United for Peace represent more than two dozen agencies, including the Department of Defense and Homeland Security and that hundreds of government workers could participate.

A walkout staged by the group earlier this month triggered national security officials to label the protest as insubordination.

"They deserve to be fired," House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., said in a statement to Axios.

Feds United for Peace representatives say their goal is to force a conversation in their offices, where many federal employees might support a cease-fire but fear retribution — or are afraid of talking about politics at work, the Guardian reported.

Van Jackson, a political scientist who worked in the Pentagon during the administration of former President Barack Obama, wrote that the protests from public servants were unprecedented, Axios reported.

Even though the Biden administration's policy hasn't changed, protesters are confident the message has reached the president.

"The president is aware, and his entire senior team is aware. I just think that they're in a bubble," an unnamed Biden official affiliated with Staffers for Ceasefire told the Guardian.

Dissent against Israel policy is "something that goes incredibly high up, no matter how much folks try to disregard that," the official said.