While Huffington Post in a report claimed there is a possibility of mutiny inside the US State Department, Dhaka’s vernacular daily Jugantor in a report says the US ambassador in Bangladesh, Peter D. Haas has instructed the embassy to fly the national flag at half staff in the wake of devastating “Israeli bombings” on Gaza that have resulted in “significant loss of life and humanitarian crises”.
Dhaka’s daily newspaper Jugantor further says, the US ambassador’s instruction to fly the flag at half-staff is to mourn the victims of “Israeli bombings”, which also aligns with Bangladesh’s ruling Awami League government’s declaration of observing “national mourning” in the memory of Palestinian “victims” and as a symbol of protest of “atrocities of Israeli occupation forces”, according to state news agency BSS.
Meanwhile, a Washington Free Beacon report said, that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has asked US embassies throughout the world to fly the American flag at half-staff in mourning of Al Ahli Hospital in Gaza which was bombed by Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorists in Gaza.
An article by Akbar Shahid Ahmed, a Pakistani, on HuffPost discusses growing tensions within the US State Department over the Biden administration’s approach to the Israel-Palestine conflict. The article further says that there is widespread internal frustration against Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his senior advisers. The article mentions that some diplomats are preparing a “mutiny” criticizing American policy in support of Israel. This comes after Josh Paul, a veteran State Department official, resigned over “moral” disagreements with US policy towards Israel, according to CNN.
There is growing speculation that the internal dissent within the US State Department may not be confined to Washington alone. Political experts have expressed serious concerns that staff in US embassies across the globe could also be part of this brewing “mutiny”.
Following is the statement of the US embassy in Dhaka.
MEDIA NOTE
U.S. EMBASSY FLIES FLAG AT HALF STAFF ON DAY OF MOURNING, OCTOBER 21
DHAKA, October 20, 2023 –The United States mourns every innocent life lost. Ambassador Peter Haas has ordered the U.S. Embassy flag to be flown at half-staff on October 21, 2023.
As Secretary of State Blinken has said, “We mourn civilians of every faith and every nationality who have been killed in the conflict.”
The original statement from the US Embassy in Dhaka did not specify the reason for this mourning.
