I Could Not Stay Silent: Annelle Sheline Resigns from State Dept. over U.S. Gaza Policy

this is democracy Now democraticnow.org Warren's peace report I am M Goodman of Nur sh, a

state

department official who works on human rights issues in the Middle East resigned Wednesday and protested against US support for the attack from Israel to Gaza. Anel Sheine worked as a foreigner. affairs officer at the Office of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor for a year before publicly resigning in a document published on CNN, he wrote a quote last year. I worked for the office dedicated to the promotion of human rights in the Middle East. I firmly believe in the mission. and in the important work of that office, however, as a representative of a government that is directly enabling what the international court of justice has said

could

be genocide in Gaza, that work has been made nearly impossible by not being able to serve an Administration that allows such atrocities. "I have decided to resign from my position at the State Department," Anel Sheine wrote. "It is the most significant protest resignation over U.S. support for Suan Kaza since the resignation in October of Josh Paul, the top State Department official involved in foreign arms transfers." governments anel sheine joins us now from Washington DC anel welcome to democracy Now, can you tell us more about the decision that he made?

Thank you very much for having me and for your coverage of this topic. He had not initially planned to resign publicly. I've been in this

state

for a long time and I didn't think it would necessarily matter, but I decided to go public because when I started telling my colleagues that I was planning to resign over Gaza, the response from many people was: please speak up, speak up for us, many people. , we're not in a position where they feel like they can quit or they're trying to do what they can from within. There is still a lot of important crucial work that the State Department does, so I decided to go ahead and keep going.

Well, you told the public that you told the Washington Post that you tried to raise concerns internally with drop cables and in the staff forum, so what was the result of that and how are other people within the state, as you said, trying to speak within the state? department of state to change

policy

yes many people are extremely horrified by the US government's position on this horrible conflict and the actions of the Israeli and US governments um there is The Descent Channel inside from the state department um I was in I co-wrote a cable and I signed other cables um there have been forums for State Department employees to talk um I talked to supervisors I was able to talk to um a senior official about my resignation um I think at the end of the day Many people within the state know that this is a horrible

policy

and cannot believe that the United States government is involved in actions that so directly contravene American values, but the leaders are not listening.

I want to turn to State Department spokesperson Matt Miller, who is being questioned. by a journalist about that channel of internal dissent within the state department and employees expressing concerns about policies, what's the point of the whole channel and I mean the secretary listens and we've all reported on listening sessions, huh , between mid-level or like more high-level officials with the secretary, more junior officials, if not, yes, yes, it is heard, but if it is not taken into account in the policy at all, then, don't you think it is a bit useless? I would completely disagree with that. is taken into account in the policy formulation process. um, the secretary has heard things in those meetings that he takes into account and that influence his thinking and that influences political decision making now, if what he wants to say is, are we going to do it? execute a complete rollback of the policy that we implemented or, um, are you going to implement exactly some of the policies that people in these meetings have asked for? um, that's not how you expect, that's just not how this process works.

That's not how government works, that's not how any organization works, I dare say any of the media organizations in this room, if journalists go to their bosses and offer them comments and the bosses say, well, that That's a good point, we'll take it to Bear, but go ahead. the broader policy, this is the decision we have made, this is how it was, I didn't suggest, but do you have any examples? Do you know of any changes? I'm really curious. I will say with respect to any number of issues with With respect to the delivery of humanitarian assistance, we have heard good ideas from people within the building who came and offered constructive feedback and we have implemented them.

Now there are people who when you say "like" the idea is that for the United States. Cutting off support for Israel is just a fundamental political disagreement, so when you see people giving interviews saying we want the United States to stop supporting Israel's right to defend itself, that's not something the secretary agrees with, It's not something the president agrees with. and ultimately they are the ones who have the responsibility to make those decisions, so at El Sheine, if you can respond to State Department spokesperson Matt Miller, you know, I think American law is pretty clear here in terms of laws, for example. from um that when a foreign military is credibly accused of serious human rights violations uh the law is that the United States will no longer provide weapons to those units um or 620i of the foreign assistance law that a government um that is blocking aid American humanitarian aid is no longer eligible to receive American military assistance, these laws are not being enforced, so I think this is not only having a horrible effect on the people of Gaza, but in terms of the United States' position in the rest of the world, this Administration is committed to reestablishing the new commitment of American moral leadership to the international community upholds the law and the so-called rules-based liberal international order and I think it has become clear that this Administration is not actually carrying out none of those promises and you know.

My work was on human rights, which is very important work that the State Department does, but I think on this particular issue, the political calculation has been that US support for Israel is a better political move, but I think that what the administration can be. I'm starting to see that they may have made the wrong decision in that political sense. Andel, can you explain if any distinction is made? There is a general statement about American support for Israel, but is there no distinction within the discussions at the State Department between different forms of American support for Israel?

Israel, for example, obviously in this case the most important issue is military aid to Israel at this time. I should make it clear that you know that my area of ​​focus was not Israel and Palestine were not part of my portfolio. I was mainly concentrating. about North Africa, um, so I can't speak directly to you. Do you know some of those conversations? I think you know that at the end of the day, the relationship between the United States and Israel is considered of such political importance that decisions about it are made at the same time. up um and so while there are other processes and certainly discussions within the State within other parts of the government about um some of those nuances that you were discussing um I don't think we're likely to see any public change in any of that until those decisions come. from above and are ready to reimagine the relationship between the United States and Israel.

I wanted to see another clip of state department spokesman Matt Miller saying that the Biden administration has not considered Israel's actions in Gaza to be a violation of international norms. law this is some of what he said, we have not found that they violate Arian international human law either in regards to the conduct of the war or in regards to the provision of humanitarian assistance which was this week in El sheine uh, whether it's a violation of international law or when it comes to providing humanitarian assistance, and yet President Biden says he's building a port because the Palestinians can't exactly get enough aid.

I think the evidence speaks for itself that we've had, you know, not just the ruling of the cij not just the ruling of the UN Security Council um clearly the administration is not willing to admit the reality um and I again, just I want to reiterate that I think this is not only obviously devastating to the lives of people in Gaza, but it's also doing incredible damage to the United States' standing on the international stage, it's incredibly demoralizing for people within the State Department. , many of whom believe deeply in what America says it stands for, so I'm just, I'm trying to speak on behalf of all those many people who feel so betrayed by our government's stance and

could

you explain What effect have the massive protests across the United States had on the State Department?

What discussion was there about them and then, of course, the uncommitted vote? So, within the State Department, you know that public officials are very committed to their role of not being political, of following the instructions they receive, you know, within the State, people are aware of what is happening outside, but you know that this is not so. The first time people have been involved or have had to carry out policies that maybe they didn't agree with and it's something that a lot of these people have committed to. This is the role of carrying out US foreign policy.

On this issue, I think because it's been so horrible and because we're seeing growing political pushback from the American public. People are increasingly frustrated. You know, a lot of other people I talked to said they're considering quitting. but again, it's a challenge for someone, um, you know this, it's not easy not to have a job in this country. I wanted to quote more of what you've said and an explanation of why you're resigning, um, you said We are haunted by the latest social media post by Aaron Bushnell, the 25-year-old US Air Force serviceman who self-immolated in front of the Israeli embassy in Washington on February 25.

You quote him. Many of us like to wonder what he would do. If he were alive during slavery or the Jim Crow South or the apartheid, what would he do if my country was committing genocide? The answer is: you are doing it right now, if you can explain what that meant to you and how people have responded to you. um I'm sorry, um, you know that post, um, I think it spoke to me and a lot of people who had to really look at what they were doing, um, and if you know, I have a young daughter and I thought about the future if she did.

You will ask me, do you know what you were doing when this happened? You were in the State Department. I want to be able to tell you that I didn't

stay

silent

. So, and I and I know a lot of people who are deeply affected by that. words um that Aaron Bush has now released um and I think people are trying to do what they can, there is still very important work being done within the state department um, but I think until our highest levels of leadership are ready to make a change um there is very little the grassroots can do and El sheine we want to thank her very much for being with us um anel just resigned from the state department in protest of American support for Israel's war in Gaza, she worked as A foreign affairs officer in the Office of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, she is also the first State Department official to publicly resign since Josh Paul did so months ago.