INTERNAL DISSENT: More than 400 government employees from 40 agencies have sent letters of dissent on President Joe Biden’s support of Israel in its war on Hamas militants. 

  In just one example, dozens of State Department employees disagreeing with administration policy have signed internal memos to Secretary of State Antony Blinken asking him to urge President Joe Bien to call for a cease fire in Gaza, The NY Times reports. It’s a sign that the wall of unified support for Israel’s war on the Hamas militants is cracking. 

  The Times says that at least three internal cables were sent to Blinken through a dissent channel established during the Vietnam War. 

  Earlier this month, more than a thousand employees of the US Agency for International Development signed a letter insisting on a cease-fire, as reported by The Washington Post.

  And as many as 100 congressional staffers have broken with their bosses and demanded a cease fire.

  Following the October 7^th Hamas attacks on Israel that killed an estimated 1,200 people, Israel first struck back more than a month ago, levelling large swaths of Gaza City and killing so far an estimated 11,000 Palestinians. Hamas yesterday released video of the body of a 19-year-old female Israeli soldier they said was killed in the bombing. 

  The Times obtained Blinken’s reply to the memos in which he said, “I know that for many of you, the suffering caused by this crisis is taking a profound personal toll,” and that “some people in the department may disagree with approaches we are taking or have views on what we can do better.”

  He added: “We’re listening: What you share is informing our policy and our messages.”

NO IMMUNITY: Israeli soldiers have reached the Gates of the Al-Shifa hospital complex in Gaza, the largest hospital in the Gaza strip where doctors say patients are dying for lack of electricity and surgery while unburied bodies are decomposing on the grounds.

  The Israelis also said they killed a number of Hamas militants “embedded” among civilians at the Al-Quds Hospital.

  Conditions at Al-Shifa have been described as “catastrophic.” With no electricity or oxygen available for incubators, premature babies are being wrapped in foil to keep them warm.

  With Israeli troops fighting to eliminate what their leaders say is a Hamas command complex that lies below the Al-Shifa complex’s main medical facility, President Joe Biden said yesterday that Gaza hospitals “must be protected.” The World Health Organization yesterday warned that the situation for patients is “dire and perilous.” Satellite images reveal that although many people have left, large numbers of refugees are camped on the grounds of the hospital compound.

THE PAYOFF: After some damning revelations about justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito accepting gifts of lavish travel, property deals, and more, The Supreme Court says it has established a code of ethics.

  The new code, however, does not include a method of enforcement.

  The code starts with some items that shouldn’t even need to be in writing … upholding the integrity and independence of the judiciary, avoiding impropriety and such. The new code also lays out expectations for staying out of politics and having interests that coincide or conflict with cases before the court.

  But when it comes to accepting millions of dollars’ worth of gifts and travel, as Justice Thomas did, the new ethics code kicks it over to the existing gift regulations of the Judicial Conference, which has gaps that you could drive a truck through. Clarence Thomas could continue to accept hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of travel, gifts and favors so long as he reports it and says it came from a dear friend.

ORANGE ALERT: Testifying in defense of the family company yesterday in a New York court, Donald Trump Jr. narrated a superlative-laced slide show of properties and described his father as a “visionary.” Praising the Central Park view from Trump Tower and the vaults inside the company’s 40 Wall Street building, Junior claimed that, if anything, Trump properties are undervalued despite his father already having been liable for fraud for having inflated the numbers.

  Like his father, Trump Jr. tended to run on but Judge Arthur Engoron brushed off prosecution objections saying, “Let him go ahead and talk about how great the Trump Organization is.”  Engoron appears to be trying to let the Trumps have their say, so they can’t claim they didn’t get a fair shake. 

  But the Trumps just can’t help themselves. Brochure material says the Wall Street building is 72 stories when it’s really only 63. The Trumps claim it’s 72 when measured at full height.

NOT LEAVING: ABC News obtained video clips of former Trump aide Jenna Ellis, a lawyer who has pleaded guilty in the Georgia election interference case, telling prosecutors about conversations in the White House following the 2020 election.

  Ellis said that Trump’s longtime aide, Dan Scavino, told her a few weeks after the election that “the boss is not going to leave under any circumstances.” She said Scavino added that “we are just going to stay in power.”

  Ellis said she responded, “Well, it doesn’t quite work that way, you realize.”

  Scavino’s response, according to Ellis: “We don’t care.”

THE SPIN RACK: A Secret Service agent guarding President Biden’s granddaughter Naomi fired shots late Sunday after discovering three people breaking into an unoccupied government vehicle in Washington. No one appeared to have been hit and the hunt is on for the three break-in artists. — Autoworkers at Ford’s Kentucky Truck Plant and GM’s Flint Assembly plant, which also makes trucks, have voted down their new contract offer. The contracts are generous but don’t bring workers back to where they were before 2007, when wages and benefits were slashed during an economic downturn.

BELOW THE FOLD: Late night comedian Jimmy Fallon said Republican Sen. Tim Scott’s decision to drop his presidential campaign has really shaken up the race for fifth place.

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