We’re welcoming Annelle Sheline to KK&F for an exclusive interview about her choice to publicly resign from her job in the State Department over the atrocities currently unfolding in Gaza. Annelle explains to us why she spoke out against the Biden admin’s gross involvement in war crimes, what other government workers seeking to take similar action are up against, and what kind of special treatment Israel receives from the federal government. All this and more, below:

Annelle is now back working at the Quincy Institute, but she previously worked in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor in Near Eastern Affairs. She had only been there a year when she decided to publicly resign. Annelle tells us that while she was unsure of the impact her resignation would have, since she was a relatively junior employee, others encouraged her to reconsider and to go public even though they could not do the same.

According to Annelle, although the number of people who have taken the action she took is relatively small, a larger number of American government workers have more quietly resigned — or even retired early — out of refusal to condone the Biden admin’s aid of Israel’s genocide in Gaza. The thought of burning all professional bridges in a “one-company town,” she notes, dissuades many people from doing so. It requires throwing out all one’s professional connections and work experience. Annelle believes she’s relatively lucky to be able to return to her academic background in think tanks. Still, some of those who don’t resign, publicly or quietly, have been writing anonymous letters and joining protests. There may not be sufficient rejection of Biden’s genocidal Israel policy among governmental workers. But the number of dissenters is growing.

Annelle also describes the special treatment Israel receives from the U.S. government, which goes well beyond special treatment that the U.S. affords to other allies. For example, the Biden admin reversed many Trump-era policies in the Middle East, ceasing the sending of “offensive weapons” to Saudi Arabia. Now, whether this admin considers the weapons it sends to Israel “offensive” or “defensive,” it clearly follows no such policy of mitigating human suffering. Decisions like these, as well as preventing funds from being used to reconstruct Gaza, show where the Biden admin’s priorities lie in supporting Israel at the cost of Palestinian lives.

We’re incredibly grateful to Annelle for speaking to us about her brave decision to resign from the State Department over Biden’s complicity in the Gaza genocide, and we hope you enjoy this important conversation. You can listen to this episode as a podcast when it’s released tomorrow on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Pandora, and more.