A group of more than 40 White House interns is pushing President Biden and Vice President Harris to end “Israel’s mass slaughter of innocent civilians in the Gaza Strip.” In a letter first reported by NBC News, the anonymous group draws an equivalence between the October 7 attack by Hamas and Israel’s counteroffensive. 

“We heed the voices of the American people and call on the Administration to demand a permanent cease-fire,” the group writes. “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 thus far ignored.”

The letter states that there are more than 40 anonymous signatories from within various White House offices, including the Domestic Policy Council, the Executive Office of the President, the Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the Office of the Vice President. 

They accuse Israel of engaging in “brutal” acts of aggression and call for “a free Palestine.”

“We are horrified by the brutal October 7 Hamas attack on Israeli civilians, and we are horrified by the brutal and genocidal response by the Israeli government, funded by our American tax dollars, which has killed over 14,000 innocent Palestinian civilians in Gaza, a large percentage of whom are children,” the letter states. 

One former senior Republican congressional aid, Zack Brown, responded to the letter on X on Tuesday. “Anonymity is the hack for having it both ways: you tell your friends you took a brave stand AND will still keep the WH internship on LinkedIn,” he wrote. 

The interns further ask the president and vice president to free “Palestinian political prisoners” currently held in Israeli prisons. 

“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 write. “We urge the Biden-Harris administration to call for a permanent cease-fire 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 Congress, there has been a similar revolt from below. Despite the fact that only a handful of House Democrats and two Senate Democrats have called for a cease-fire, staff members have lined up to anonymously declare their desire for a cessation of hostilities. 

On November 13, dozens of House staff members — many clad in black with their faces covered as to remain anonymous — stood on the steps of the Capitol Building to demand members and the White House work on a permanent cease-fire at Israel. 

“We are congressional staffers on Capitol Hill, and we are no longer comfortable staying silent,” said one of the speakers. “Our constituents are pleading for a cease-fire, and we are the staffers answering their calls. Most of our bosses on Capitol Hill are not listening to the people they represent. We demand our leaders speak up. Call for a cease-fire, a release of all hostages, and an immediate de-escalation now.”