Annelle Sheline, a research fellow in the Quincy Institute’s Middle East program who’s latest paper focuses on the U.S.’s prioritization of weapons sales over human rights. Annelle gets into some of the thinking of her state department colleagues over this issue, which she finds to be rooted in outdated American exceptionalism. The hypocrisy is particularly noteworthy when it comes to Israel, despite growing public sentiment against Israel’s destruction of Gaza and perpetual subjugation of the Palestinian people.