In a bombshell revelation that adds to mounting internal U.S. criticism of American policy toward the Israel-Gaza conflict, a top-ranking former Biden administration State Department leader has publicly stated that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu bears responsibility for creating what she describes as a genocide in the Gaza Strip.
Wendy Sherman, who served as U.S. Deputy Secretary of State from 2021 through 2023, made the remarks during a recent interview with Bloomberg’s *The Mishal Husain Show*, published Friday. While she clarified that she is not in a position to issue a formal legal ruling on whether the crime of genocide has been committed in the blockaded Palestinian enclave, she left no room for ambiguity about the scale of human and physical destruction there, stating: “there was no doubt that Gaza was demolished.”
Sherman, a veteran diplomat who has held senior roles across multiple U.S. presidential administrations, reaffirmed her longstanding commitment to the U.S.-Israel alliance and support for the right of a Jewish state to exist. But she drew a clear line between that backing and her condemnation of the current Israeli campaign, arguing that “Netanyahu ‘led us down a road – and we have been part of it – that has, in essence, created a genocide in Gaza that has destabilised the Middle East.’”
Her comments align with findings from the United Nations’ top investigative body focused on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which ruled in September that Israel has committed the crime of genocide in Gaza.
The ongoing conflict erupted after the October 2023 Hamas-led attack on southern Israel that killed more than 1,100 Israelis. Since that date, Israeli military operations in Gaza have killed at least 72,500 Palestinians, with thousands more still missing and presumed dead under the rubble of destroyed buildings. Over the course of the campaign, Israeli forces have reduced roughly 80 percent of Gaza’s civilian infrastructure – including residential homes, hospitals, and schools – to ruins.
In her interview, Sherman balanced her remarks by affirming the rights of both peoples to peace and security. “Palestinians deserve a home, dignity and peace,” she said, adding that “Israel also has the right to achieve security and peace.” A self-described strong supporter of Israel, Sherman emphasized that her criticism does not extend to the Jewish state’s right to exist, but rather to the wholesale destruction unfolding in Gaza. “I am not a supporter of destroying any civilization, or any people – that goes for the Palestinians or the Iranian people, as much as I might find the regime odious,” she added.
Sherman is far from alone among former senior U.S. officials in condemning Washington’s role in the conflict. Back in July 2024, a group of 12 former U.S. government officials who resigned in protest over U.S. support for Israel publicly accused the Biden administration of “undeniable complicity” in the deaths of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. The group, which included former staffers from the State Department, Education Department, Interior Department, White House, and U.S. military, said in a joint statement that the administration was violating U.S. law by continuing to ship weapons to Israel, exploiting loopholes to bypass oversight.
“America’s diplomatic cover for, and continuous flow of arms to, Israel has ensured our undeniable complicity in the killings and forced starvation of a besieged Palestinian population in Gaza,” the former officials wrote.
Similar conclusions have been drawn by sitting U.S. lawmakers. In September, Democratic Senators Chris Van Hollen and Jeff Merkley released a bipartisan report concluding that the United States is complicit in Israel’s “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians, and found that Netanyahu’s longstanding policies in the occupied West Bank amount to “slow motion” ethnic cleansing.