Stephanie Hallett

Chargé d’Affaires ad interim to Israel, 2023-2023

Current: United States Ambassador to Bahrain

Working alongside U.S. ambassador to Israel Jack Lew as deputy chief of mission in Israel, Stephanie Hallett concealed reports about suffering in Gaza, stifling potential ceasefire talks. 

In early 2024, Hallett, under the direction of Jack Lew, restricted internal distribution of five USAID cables warning of “catastrophic human needs” in northern Gaza, including carnage on the streets and unsafe conditions for obtaining food and water—conditions that amounted to what staffers called an “Apocalyptic Wasteland.”

According to former officials, Hallett claimed to have doubted the veracity of the cables because they lacked “balance.” 

Per Reuters interviews with former Biden officials, Hallett requested on multiple occasions that these cables be “reframed or edited,” and argued that one cable was unnecessary and redundant, claiming that much of the information was already available to the public. 

One of Hallett’s reported motives in withholding the cables was to prevent progress in ceasefire talks. Former Biden officials told Reuters that Hallett “sometimes viewed USAID disaster team cables as too sensitive to be published during contentious negotiations on a ceasefire and hostage deal.”