‘I realised we’re such hypocrites’: how growing numbers of US veterans were moved to protest over Gaza

Josephine Guilbeau, 36, a former army captain, spent much of her career as an intelligence officer at the Defense Intelligence Agency. That background is what led her to start saving photos of every dead child in Gaza she saw on her social media feed. The album on her phone now contains thousands of images. “I don’t need to know what the media says,” she says. “I can see with my own eyes what is happening.”

She resigned in November 2023 after 17 years of service.

The mother of four had been out for pizza with her family in Lafayette, Louisiana. Her mother and sister were getting increasingly irritated that she wouldn’t stop talking about the war. “Why don’t you just tell the whole world?” goaded her sister. Guilbeau decided to accept the challenge.

Guilbeau has been relentless, posting to her 19,000 Instagram followers as she began spending every other week in Washington where, along with Veterans for Peace, she visited every Congress member, delivering letters demanding an arms embargo to Israel and an investigation into alleged criminal acts by Biden administration officials. The letter listed the statutes VFP say are being violated including the US War Crimes Act, Arms Export Control Act and the Leahy Law. All prevent weapons going to countries whose actions break the Geneva conventions or cause gross human rights violations. The letter was endorsed by Josh Paul, the most senior US state department official to resign over US policy on Gaza.

“I love it when someone tells me I’m being unpatriotic,” says Guilbeau. “I just look at them and ask, ‘Where did you serve?’”

“Patriotism is not blindly following our corrupt leaders. I’m protesting for an arms embargo not only for the people in Gaza but I have four children that need to have a future in this country.”

I love it when someone tells me I’m being unpatriotic. I just look at them and ask, ‘Where did you serve?’

Guilbeau was wearing uniform when a video of her speaking outside the White House went viral. With her brass-buttoned jacket lined with service ribbons the contrast between her appearance and her words were striking: “Having a background in military intelligence I know we have the technology that we can see exactly who is in those locations and buildings,” she says. “So they are targeting and bombing homes knowing who and how many children are inside. The civilian casualties are catastrophic … this is not self-defence.”

To read the entire news report, visit The Guardian.