Forty-plus White House interns have sent a letter to President Joe Biden demanding a permanent ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas terrorist organization, further accusing him of having “ignored” the “pleas of the American people.”
NBC News first shared the terse missive addressed to Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris which also contained a call for the release of all hostages “including Palestinian political prisoners,” alongside an end to “Israeli apartheid” in the region.
It is supported by more than 40 interns who work in the White House and other executive branch offices, according to the text. The signees all chose to remain anonymous.
“We, the undersigned Fall 2023 White House and Executive Office of the President interns, will no longer remain silent on the ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people,” the interns began.
They then went on to set out the conditions of their demand for an end to hostilities while claiming to be acting on “the voices of the American people.”
File/ First Lady Michelle Obama leads a special screening of “Slumdog Millionaire” for White House Interns on 24 April, 2009. (Charles Ommanney/Getty)
“We heed the voices of the American people and call on the Administration to demand a permanent ceasefire,” the interns wrote. “We are not the decision makers of today, but we aspire to be the leaders of tomorrow, and we will never forget how the pleas of the American people have been heard and thus far, ignored.”
The writers, like those at other agencies who have sent similar missives in recent weeks, declined to sign their names to the letter.
Instead, they identified themselves by offices — including the Executive Office of the President, the Office of the Vice President and the Domestic Policy Council — and as “Palestinian, Jewish, Arab, Muslim, Christian, Black, Asian, Latine, White, and Queer.”
The letter ends with the declaration that anything bar a ceasefire and an end to “Israel’s mass slaughter of innocent civilians in the Gaza Strip” will not be tolerated.
White House Intern Letter by Breitbart News on Scribd
“While the Administration expressed support for the humanitarian pause, we maintain that anything other than a complete halt of Israel’s mass slaughter of innocent civilians in the Gaza Strip will simply not suffice,” they wrote.
“We urge the Biden-Harris Administration to call for a permanent ceasefire now, a release of all hostages including Palestinian political prisoners, and to support a diplomatic solution that will put an end to the illegal occupation and the Israeli apartheid, in accordance with international law and for a free Palestine.”
Applicants to become interns must be U.S. citizens are 18 or older.
They must meet one of three criteria: be enrolled in a college or university, have graduated from a two- or four-year institution, or be a U.S. military veteran with a high school diploma or equivalent.
President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris announced in 2021 that White House interns would henceforth be paid for the first time starting that fall.
They receive academic credit and are paid $750 a week, which is akin to a $39,000-a-year salary.