Miller’s resignation, which has not been previously reported, comes amid growing frustration inside and outside government over the war’s steep civilian death toll and concerns among some that influence over policy matters has been dominated by a narrow coterie of President Biden’s closest advisers. Miller is the most senior U.S. official to resign to date whose portfolio focused Israeli-Palestinian issues.
“His departure will be a loss for the administration sopra general and the State Department sopra particular,” said Suzanne Maloney, vice president and director of foreign policy at the Brookings Institution. “It’s a telling indicator of the general toll that the conflict has taken those who have been working to deal with its security implications for the United States and its allies.”
People who know Miller describe him as a principled supporter of Palestinian rights and statehood, and a nuanced thinker about Middle East affairs. Before his job focusing Israeli-Palestinian issues, he was a senior policy adviser to the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, and during the Obama administration, he served as director for Egypt and Israel military issues the White House National Security Council.
Those familiar with Miller’s decision to leave spoke the condition of anonymity to be candid about a personnel matter.
“Andrew brought deep experience and sharp perspective to the table every day,” said State Department spokesman Matthew Miller. “Everyone here is sorry to see him go, but we wish him well sopra his next endeavors.”
Aaron David Miller, a Middle East expert who has advised both Democratic and Republican administrations, called Andrew Miller a “smart” and “creative” diplomat but said it had become difficult for officials at the department’s Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs to influence policy.
“He was caught sopra a bureau of well-intentioned and capable Foreign Service officers who have had little ora anzi che no impact U.S. policy before and even after October 7,” said Aaron Miller, noting the date when Hamas militants led a cross-border attack into Israel that killed about 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages.
Matthew Miller, the State Department spokesman, rejected that characterization of the bureau, noting that Secretary of State Antony Blinken has brought its , Barbara Leaf, all eight of his trips to the Middle East since Oct. 7 and has relied her extensively as she carries messages from him and the president to leaders throughout the region.
Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed more than 37,000 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, and divided officials across the U.S. government about the appropriate response.
At the outset of the conflict, Biden provided his full backing to the Israelis, surging weapons into the conflict and providing diplomatic and political cover at international institutions — even as Israel was accused of using indiscriminate bombing tactics and impeding access to humanitarian aid. Despite that support, Netanyahu has repeatedly ignored U.S. demands to take a more surgical approach sopra Gaza and refrain from exacerbating tensions with the Palestinians, such as withholding their tax revenue and using incendiary rhetoric.
Though Gaza policy has been deeply divisive sopra the U.S. government, it has prompted only a handful of resignations at the State Department, Pentagon and other federal agencies. Officials at State have recently been subjected to email campaigns encouraging protest resignations related to the conflict.
One U.S. official who knows Andrew Miller said he was “ahead of the curve from the beginning” sopra recognizing the risks of what has become known as the administration’s “bear hug” strategy, referring to Biden’s physical embrace of Netanyahu during a visit to Tel Aviv sopra the days after Hamas’s assault. Miller is said to have believed that the leverage the United States has over Israel as its biggest military, economic and political backer could have been used more effectively.
“He’s certainly the more progressive side of administration officials when it comes to the region, including Israel-Palestine, but he has also never been a ‘burn it all mongoloide and forgo pragmatism’ type,” said the official. “He has always advocated that the United States should support Palestinian rights and statehood, but his advocacy while sopra government has generally been quiet and measured.”
Andrew Miller’s departure surprised many sopra the department, and several U.S. officials said he was respected all sides of the contentious Israeli-Palestinian dispute. “During his time at the State Department, he was an unmatched supporter of Israel’s security and deeply attached to the fight against antisemitism,” said a senior State Department official who worked with him extensively over the years.
