Alexander Smith’s PowerPoint presentation doesn’t seem to have been intended to stir up controversy. The slides, which focus on the declining maternal health in Gaza, reference public health data from the United Nations and the World Health Organization. Smith, who works for the U.S. Agency for International Development, was selected by his employer to present at the agency’s Global Gender Equality Conference.
However, just before the conference, a contentious issue arose.
One slide mentioned international humanitarian law in the context of the health crisis in Gaza. USAID staff viewed the slide and the discussion of international law as potential grounds for leaks, according to documents and emails shared with The Intercept. Despite Smith’s willingness to make revisions, his presentation was ultimately canceled. On the final day of the conference, he found himself without a job.
“I found it extremely unsettling that misinformation can freely circulate about Gaza, but I can’t speak about the reality of malnourished pregnant women,” said Smith, who worked as a contracted senior adviser at USAID on gender and maternal health. “We can’t even address that in a conference on that subject.”
In a statement to The Intercept, the agency declined to comment on personnel matters but stated that Smith was not forced out over the presentation. “As an Agency, we value and intentionally seek out a diversity of viewpoints,” said a USAID spokesperson.
Smith, who is both a lawyer and public health expert, had been with USAID for four years. In February, he submitted an abstract for his presentation titled “An Intersectional Gender Lens in Gaza: Ethnicity, Religion, Geography, Legal Status, and Maternal/Child Health Outcomes,” which was accepted for the small USAID conference. He was scheduled to present on May 22 in Washington, D.C.
On May 10, two weeks before the conference, the State Department issued a report — known as the “NSM-20” report — about Israel’s compliance with international law. As The Intercept reported, USAID officials had urged Secretary of State Antony Blinken to find Israel’s commitments to international law not credible based on its actions in Gaza since October.
Blinken’s report was cautious, expressing “deep concerns” about “action and inaction” by the Israeli government that led to “insufficient” aid delivery to Gaza, while also stating that Israel was not “prohibiting or otherwise restricting the transport or delivery of U.S. humanitarian assistance.”
During the conference, Smith intended to discuss international humanitarian law. His slides on the topic did not specifically mention Israel, as shown in the presentation.
“I wasn’t planning to stand up and shout ‘Israel is committing genocide,’” Smith said. “I was simply stating the laws.”
Courtesy Alexander Smith
Courtesy of Alexander Smith
The remainder of Smith’s presentation drew on data from the U.N., WHO, and other sources regarding the deterioration of maternal health in Gaza, including reports on Israel’s destructive attacks on Gaza’s health infrastructure.
When officials in USAID’s Middle East bureau reviewed Smith’s presentation a few days before the event, they flagged the slide on international humanitarian law in particular.
“REMOVE – This framing is unnecessary for the subsequent slides,” wrote Erika Yepsen, a public affairs official for the bureau, in a comment. “This is an inappropriate venue to be commenting on Israel’s compliance with IHL.”
Yepsen, who did not respond to The Intercept’s inquiries, stated in an email with other USAID advisers that “the NSM-20 report has made national news and Israel’s compliance remains an unresolved issue.”
Courtesy of Alexander Smith
Smith agreed to cut the slide, the email thread shows. In line with administration guidelines, he also agreed to cut references to “Palestine,” including from the title of a chart produced by the United Nations Population Fund Palestine. He also agreed to other changes to comply with agency talking points and messaging, and offered to present without any slides, Smith told The Intercept.
Ultimately, USAID officials nixed the entire presentation. “Please remove this from the conference agenda,” wrote Allison Salyer, a senior adviser in the bureau, in an email. Salyer did not respond to The Intercept.
In a statement, a USAID official declined to discuss “specific personnel matters” but said Smith’s “work responsibilities did not include supporting USAID’s response to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza or the devastating impacts of the conflict on women and children.”
USAID officials did not raise concerns over Smith’s expertise in any of the documents reviewed by The Intercept, focusing instead on his language choices.
“No one ever asked me before the conference if Gaza was outside my scope or used that as a reason not to talk about it,” Smith said. “Certainly the 35 people who reviewed and approved my abstract thought it was appropriate for me to speak on Gaza.”
Smith chose to attend the conference nonetheless. On the final day, he tried to ask the head of USAID, Samantha Power, why his presentation was canceled, but he was not called on, Smith said.
Late last week, Smith said he got a call from the company that contracted his position with USAID. He was told he could either resign or be terminated over “personality differences.”
“What happened to me sends a very clear signal to staff: We don’t talk about Gaza.”
The company would not tell him if the presentation contributed to USAID’s dissatisfaction with his performance, Smith said.
On Monday, Smith joined the growing ranks of Biden administration officials who have resigned over Gaza.
“Actively silencing discussion of Palestinian lives and the ongoing global health disaster is dehumanizing,” Smith wrote in a resignation letter to Power, “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.”
“What happened to me sends a very clear signal to staff: We don’t talk about Gaza,” Smith told The Intercept.
