A former contractor with the US Agency for International Development (USAID), Alexander Smith, has revealed that he was forced to resign after his presentation on declining maternal health in Gaza was canceled by leadership.
Smith, who served as a senior adviser on gender, maternal health, child health, and nutrition at USAID for four years, was scheduled to present on maternal and child mortality among Palestinians. One day before the presentation, USAID leadership canceled it. Smith was then contacted by the contracting company and given a choice between resignation and termination due to "personality differences."
His presentation, titled "An Intersectional Gender Lens in Gaza: Ethnicity, Religion, Geography, Legal Status, and Maternal/Child Health Outcomes," was accepted for a USAID conference in Washington, DC, where he planned to speak on May 22. Smith's presentation included data from the UN, WHO, and other sources about the decline in maternal health in Gaza, and reports on the impact of Israeli attacks on Gaza's health infrastructure.
Smith criticized the Biden administration for silencing experts and supporting Israel, which denies the existence of famine in Gaza. "It's shameful that misinformation can go around the world to millions, while we at USAID can't even whisper about it in a conference on gender and human rights and health outcomes," he said.
In his resignation letter to USAID Administrator Samantha Power, Smith wrote, "Actively silencing discussion of Palestinian lives and the ongoing global health disaster is dehumanizing, not only to the people of Gaza, but to the people of the United States who deserve to know the extent to which we are paying for and supporting crimes against Palestinians."
Smith joins other Biden administration officials who have resigned over the Gaza issue. "What happened to me sends a very clear signal to staff: We don’t talk about Gaza," he told The Intercept.
Israel's ongoing attacks on Gaza, which began after Operation al-Aqsa Storm launched by Palestinian fighters on October 7, 2023, have resulted in the deaths of at least 36,379 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and injuries to 82,407 others.
