‘I wasn’t able to really do my job anymore, trying to advocate for human rights just became impossible,’ Annelle Sheline, the third U.S. official to publicly resign, said
Annelle Sheline, a State Department official, tendered her resignation, citing profound objections to the Biden administration’s backing of Israel’s military campaign against the Gaza Strip.
Sheline, who served as a foreign affairs officer in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor for one year, expressed her inability to continue serving an administration that she believes supports actions tantamount to atrocities.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller characterized Sheline’s departure as a fellow who completed the first year of a two-year fellowship. He emphasized the diversity of opinions within the department and Secretary Antony Blinken’s commitment to soliciting and considering differing views.
Annelle Sheline, 38, stepped down after a year as a foreign affairs officer in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor
In a written article, Sheline stated, “However, as a representative of a government that is directly enabling what the International Court of Justice has said could plausibly be a genocide in Gaza, such work has become almost impossible.”
Sheline said her focus had been promoting human rights in the Middle East and North Africa, work that was complicated by Israel’s war and a host of accompanying moral, legal, security and diplomatic implications for the U.S.
The resignations came as the Biden administration has faced pressure from many Democrats to call for a permanent cease-fire and restrict how Israel uses U.S. weapons and other military assistance in Gaza, where the Health Ministry says more than 32,000 people have died in the war.
Eroding US credibility in human rights advocacy amid Gaza conflict
Sheline said she tried to raise concerns internally with dissent cables and at staff forums but eventually concluded that it was pointless “as long as the U.S. continues to send a steady stream of weapons to Israel.”
“I wasn’t able to really do my job anymore. Trying to advocate for human rights just became impossible,” she added.
She emphasized the eroding credibility of the U.S. as a champion of human rights since the conflict’s inception. Sheline hopes her resignation will amplify efforts to urge the administration to withdraw support for Israel’s actions for the sake of Palestinians’ lives and America’s moral integrity.
“Whatever credibility the United States had as an advocate for human rights has almost entirely vanished since the war began,” Sheline wrote.
A picture taken from Rafah shows smoke billowing after Israeli bombardment on Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on March 21, 2024,.
‘Please speak for us’”
Sheline expressed that she had been hesitant to go public with her decision to discontinue her work at the department, fearing she was not “senior enough” to make an impact. She said she was supported by colleagues who were unable to resign because they had other considerations and commitments.
“Because my time at State had been so short – I was hired on a two-year contract – I did not think I mattered enough to announce my resignation publicly,” Sheline said. “However, when I started to tell colleagues of my decision to resign, the response I heard repeatedly was, ‘Please speak for us.’”
“I know I’m foreclosing any sort of future at the State Department, or maybe even in the US government,” she said. “Which I think is unfortunate because I really valued the work that I was doing there.”
3 officials quit State Dept over US support for Gaza conflict, “who’s next”?
Sheline’s resignation marks the third public protest resignation from the agency since October, following Josh Paul, former director of the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs. In his resignation letter, Paul cited the administration’s “blind support” for Israel and surge of weapons.
“It is my opinion that Israel is committing war crimes in its actions in Gaza right now. And it’s not just my opinion. I’ve actually heard from officials across government, including elected officials at a very senior level, who share that opinion but aren’t willing to say it in public,” he said.
Josh Paul, former director of the Office of Congressional and Public Affairs in the Bureau of Political-Military Affairs at the US State Department, which oversees arms transfers to US allies
Former State Department official Paul also said he was “so proud of” Sheline for becoming “the third US official to publicly resign over the absolute disaster that is the Biden Administration’s continuing support for Israel’s war crimes, bombings, and starvation of innocent civilians in Gaza.” “Who’s next?” he added.
Tariq Habash, a political appointee at the Education Department, also resigned in January over similar concerns regarding U.S. policy on Gaza. “I cannot stay silent as this administration turns a blind eye to the atrocities committed against innocent Palestinian lives, in what leading human rights experts have called a genocidal campaign by the Israeli government,” Habash wrote in his resignation letter.
Habash said Sheline’s decision to leave underscored how the U.S.’ standing both at home and abroad has diminished amid the war in Gaza.
“It’s not surprising that there are people who tried to do important and critical work related to human rights at the State Department who felt like they were unable to do their job,” he said.
