Blinken Holds 'Listening Sessions' With State Dept. Staffers Unhappy With Middle East Policies

Doug P. | 2:15 PM on October 21, 2023

If you've watched the Biden administration's remarks since the Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel, you've noticed slight pivots happening along the way.

Could that be because U.S. foreign policy is being at least partly dictated by internal focus groups inside the U.S. State Department? It's possible:

Scoop: Blinken held “listening sessions” with Muslim, Arab-American and Jewish staffers amid growing internal frustration over the department’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war. https://t.co/cAYtiGxgSq
— Elizabeth Hagedorn (@ElizHagedorn) October 21, 2023

Government policy formation by employee "listening sessions" -- what could possibly go wrong?

He's running the US State Department like a college campus. Just unreal. https://t.co/s5b4pD3kyA
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) October 21, 2023

That's sure what it sounds like:

Secretary of State Antony Blinken held “listening sessions” with Muslim, Arab-American and Jewish staffers amid growing internal frustration over the department’s handling of the war in Israel and Gaza.
The meetings came after a State Department official resigned in protest this week over continued US support for an Israeli bombing campaign in the Gaza Strip that the Hamas-run health ministry says has killed more than 4,000 people.
On Friday afternoon, Blinken met with a small group of State Department staffers who are members of two Arab-American and Muslim employee organizations. The top US diplomat also had a meeting arranged with a group of Jewish employees at the department.
A source familiar with one of the meetings called it “an opportunity [for Blinken] to hear directly from the workforce since his trip to the region.”

Perhaps Blinken should host a poetry slam in the quad to let State employees better express how they feel and then take notes along the way.