Sixteen former Campaign staffers of Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., have penned a letter urging their onetime boss to back a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, telling him that “it is not too late to change your stance and stand on the righteous side of history.”
The open letter comes as Fetterman, a consistent supporter of Israel, has defended its war on Gaza and is the latest effort by former or current U.S. government employees urging an end to the violence.
On Thursday, Fetterman joined 35 other senators in pushing for “the swift implementation of sustained access for humanitarian aid, including water and medical supplies, to save innocent civilian lives in Gaza,” yet he has been dismissive of his congressional colleagues’ calls for a ceasefire.
“Now is not the time to talk about a ceasefire,” Fetterman posted a few days after 13 House Democrats introduced a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire. “We must support Israel in efforts to eliminate the Hamas terrorists who slaughtered innocent men, women, and children. Hamas does not want peace, they want to destroy Israel.” (The ceasefire resolution now has 18 co-sponsors, including Florida Rep. Maxwell Frost, who signed on Friday.)
The former Fetterman campaign staffers, who called for an end to unconditional arms support to Israel and signed the letter as “Fetterman Alumni for Peace,” said they were speaking out because of the role they played in getting Fetterman elected. They published the letter anonymously out of fear of professional reprisal.
“On the trail,” they wrote, “your overarching promise was to ‘Forgotten Communities’ – people and places that get overlooked, written off, and left behind. You can’t be a champion of forgotten communities if you cheerlead this war and the consequent destruction of Palestinian communities at home and abroad.”
The letter is the latest in a spate of objections from official Washington and its orbit. Earlier this week, 411 current congressional staffers and 260 former Elizabeth Warrenpresidential campaign staffers issued statements demanding support for a ceasefire, while an 11-year State Department official resigned due to his moral disagreements with the Biden administration’s approach to the conflict.
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Prem Thakker is a politics reporter for The Intercept. His interests include climate and the environment, corporate and political corruption, civil rights and justice, and labor. Prem previously worked at The New Republic, The American Prospect, and CNN. He grew up in North Dakota and now lives in Washington, D.C.
