Dismantling USAID during the Gaza humanitarian crisis is short-sighted because it destroys the agency and capacity needed to execute reconstruction work—clearing rubble, removing unexploded ordnance—demonstrating lack of strategic vision about how pieces of foreign policy fit together.

causalpending

Speaker

Ben Rhodes

Evidence Quote

ironically if he wanted to kind of rebuild Gaza he's actually destroying the agency that would do it um in usid and already the freeze on assistance is you know making it impossible for usid to fulfill just the humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza [12:38]

Source

Ben Rhodes: The Warren and Anita Manshel Lecture in American Foreign PolicyWeatherhead Center for International Affairs
Created: 8/11/2026, 7:39:48 AM

My Notes

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