State Department employee fired after questioning talking points on Israel and Gaza
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State Department employee fired after questioning talking points on Israel and Gaza
Shahed Ghoreishi, a contractor working for the Bureau of Near East Affairs, was terminated over the weekend. He was fired following two incidents last week in which his loyalty to Trump administration policies was called into question. The administration this week also revoked security clearances for 37 current and former national security officials, including many who had signed a 2019 letter critical of Trump that was recently highlighted by Loomer. The U.S. State Department has gone to ensure what it sees as loyalty to the president and his goals, including a foreign policy approach that has offered overwhelming support for Israel in the war against Hamas, officials say. The agency also has repeatedly backed referring to the West Bank by Judea and Samaria, leading to questions about policy back in Washington, they say. But the officials say that line was rejected by the State Department.
Officials said Shahed Ghoreishi, a contractor working for the Bureau of Near East Affairs, was terminated over the weekend following two incidents last week in which his loyalty to Trump administration policies was called into question.
Ghoreishi, who is Iranian American, also was targeted Wednesday following his dismissal by right-wing personality Laura Loomer, who accused him of not being fully supportive of the administration’s policies in the Middle East.
According to Ghoreishi and two current U.S. officials, Ghoreishi drew the ire of a senior official at the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem and then top aides to Secretary of State Marco Rubio for drafting a response to a query from The Associated Press last week. The question related to discussions between Israel and South Sudan about the possible relocation of Palestinians from Gaza to South Sudan.
The draft response included a line that said the U.S. does not support the forced relocation of Gazans, something that President Donald Trump and his special envoy Steve Witkoff have said repeatedly.
However, according to Ghoreishi and the officials, that line was rejected by the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem, leading to questions about policy back in Washington. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal personnel changes.
Ghoreishi also said he questioned a statement from the embassy that referred to the West Bank as “Judea and Samaria,” the Biblical name for the Palestinian territory that some right-wing Israeli officials prefer. Mike Huckabee, U.S. ambassador to Israel, also has repeatedly backed referring to the West Bank by Judea and Samaria.
The ouster shows the lengths that the Trump administration has gone to ensure what it sees as loyalty to the president and his goals, including a foreign policy approach that has offered overwhelming support for Israel in the war against Hamas. The administration this week also revoked security clearances for 37 current and former national security officials, including many who had signed a 2019 letter critical of Trump that was recently highlighted by Loomer.
“Despite a close working relationship with many of my dedicated and hardworking colleagues, I was targeted following two events last week when I attracted the ire of the 7th floor and senior officials in Embassy Jerusalem: stating we are against forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza as President Trump and special envoy Witkoff have both previously claimed and cutting a reference to Judea and Samaria,” Ghoreishi said, referring to the floor where top leaders have offices at the State Department.
“Both of these had been consistently approved at the senior level in the past, so it begs the question why I was suddenly targeted without a direct explanation and whether our Israel-Palestine policy is about to get even worse — including an unwillingness to take any stand against ethnic cleansing. The future looks bleak,” he said.
State Department spokespeople declined to comment on his firing, calling it an internal personnel matter.
Without addressing the specifics, deputy State Department spokesman Tommy Pigott said in a statement that the agency “has zero tolerance for employees who commit misconduct by leaking or otherwise disclosing confidential deliberative emails or information. Federal employees should never put their personal political ideologies ahead of the duly elected President’s agenda.”
The firing was first reported by The Washington Post.
Loomer claimed Wednesday that she had a hand in Ghoreishi’s removal from the State Department. She said he was affiliated with pro-Iran groups and jihadists, which Ghoreishi denies.
Just days ago, the State Department said it was halting all visitor visas for people from Gaza pending a review soon after Loomer had posted videos on social media of children from Gaza arriving in the U.S. for medical treatment and questioning how they got visas.
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US sanctions more ICC judges, prosecutors for probes into alleged American, Israeli war crimes
The U.S. has already imposed penalties on the ICC’s former chief prosecutor, Karim Khan. The sanctions are just the latest in a series of steps the administration has taken against The Hague-based court. As a result of the sanctions, any assets the targets hold in U.N. jurisdictions are frozen. The U.K. is the only country that is not a member of the International Criminal Court, which was established in 1998 to prosecute war crimes.. The State Department said two judges and two prosecutors had been instrumental in efforts to prosecute Americans and Israelis.
The State Department on Wednesday announced new sanctions on four ICC officials, including two judges and two prosecutors, who it said had been instrumental in efforts to prosecute Americans and Israelis. As a result of the sanctions, any assets the targets hold in U.S. jurisdictions are frozen.
The sanctions are just the latest in a series of steps the administration has taken against The Hague-based court, the world’s first international war crimes tribunal. The U.S. has already imposed penalties on the ICC’s former chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, who stepped aside in May pending an investigation into alleged sexual misconduct, and four other tribunal judges.
In a statement, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he had taken action against ICC judges Kimberly Proust of Canada and Nicolas Guillou of France and prosecutors Nazhat Shameem Khan of Fiji and Mame Mandiaye Niang of Senegal.
“These individuals are foreign persons who directly engaged in efforts by the International Criminal Court to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute nationals of the United States or Israel, without the consent of either nation,” Rubio said. He added that the administration would continue “to take whatever actions we deem necessary to protect our troops, our sovereignty, and our allies from the ICC’s illegitimate and baseless actions.”
In a separate statement, the State Department said Prost was hit for ruling to authorize an ICC investigation into U.S. personnel in Afghanistan, which was later dropped. Guillou was sanctioned for ruling to authorize the ICC’s issuance of arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant related to Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza.
Khan and Niang were penalized for continuing Karim Khan’s investigation into Israel’s actions in Gaza, including upholding the ICC’s arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, according to the statement.
Wednesday’s move carries on a history of Trump administration actions against the ICC, of which the U.S. is not a member, dating back to his first term in office.
During Trump’s first term, the U.S. hit the ICC with sanctions, but those were rescinded by President Joe Biden’s administration in early 2021.
Donald Trump Facts
Donald Trump served as the 45th president of the United States (2017–21) He was the third president in U.S. history to be impeached by the House of Representatives. Trump starred in a reality television series, “The Apprentice,” which popularized the phrase “You’re fired!” In 1989 Trump teamed with the Milton Bradley Company to release a board game called Trump: The Monopoly Game, which shared some similarities with the popular real-estate game. Trump’s net worth during this period ranged from $1.7 billion to $2.1 billion. In 1999 Trump switched his voter registration from Republican to the Reform Party and established a presidential exploratory committee. He ultimately declined to run for president in 2000, however, and he later rejoined the Republican Party. He has said that he decided to abstain from drinking after seeing its effects on his older brother Freddy, whose alcoholism led to his early death at the age of 43. He is married to his third wife, Slovenian-born Ivana Trump.
Cite verifiedCite While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. Please refer to the appropriate style manual or other sources if you have any questions. Select Citation Style MLA APA Chicago Manual of Style Copy Citation Share Share Share to social media X URL https://www.britannica.com/facts/Donald-Trump
Donald Trump served as the 45th president of the United States (2017–21). He was the third president in U.S. history to be impeached by the U.S. House of Representatives and the only president to be impeached twice—once in 2019 (he was acquitted by the U.S. Senate in 2020) and once in 2021. In the presidential election of 2020, Trump was defeated by his Democratic opponent, former vice-president Joe Biden, by 306 electoral votes to 232. Prior to his 2016 run for the presidency, Trump had gained notoriety as a real-estate developer and businessman who owned, managed, or licensed his name to hotels, casinos, golf courses, resorts, and residential properties in New York City and around the world; from 2004 to 2015, he starred in a reality television series, “The Apprentice,” which popularized the phrase “You’re fired!” and featured contestants competing in various challenges to become one of his employees.
Facts
Top Questions
What did Donald Trump study?
Donald Trump majored in economics at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1968.
When did Donald Trump declare his candidacy?
Donald Trump announced that he would be a candidate in the 2016 presidential election campaign on June 14, 2015, at Trump Tower in New York City.
When was Donald Trump elected?
Donald Trump won the general election for the U.S. presidency on November 8, 2016.
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In the 2016 U.S. presidential election, Donald Trump won the electoral college by 304 votes to 227. In the 2020 presidential election, Trump lost by 306 electoral votes to 232.
When did Donald Trump take office?
Donald Trump took the presidential oath of office on January 20, 2017.
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Donald Trump attended New York Military Academy (1959–64), a private boarding school; Fordham University in the Bronx (1964–66); and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School (1966–68).
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Mar-a-Lago is located in Palm Beach, Florida. Trump purchased the 118-room mansion on the site in the 1980s; he floated a plan to his creditors to convert the estate into a luxury housing development consisting of several smaller mansions, but local opposition led him instead to turn it into a private club, which was opened in 1995.
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Donald Trump was born and raised in New York City.
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Did You Know?
In 1999 Trump switched his voter registration from Republican to the Reform Party and established a presidential exploratory committee; he ultimately declined to run for president in 2000, however, and he later rejoined the Republican Party.
Trump has said that he decided to abstain from drinking alcohol after seeing its effects on his older brother Freddy, whose alcoholism led to his early death at the age of 43.
In 1989 Trump teamed with the Milton Bradley Company to release a board game called Trump: The Game, which shared some similarities with the popular real-estate board game Monopoly; the Trump-branded game saw disappointing sales and was soon retired, though it was rereleased 15 years later after Trump had found increased fame as the star of the reality television show “The Apprentice.”
When the U.S. economy fell into recession in 1990, many of Trump’s businesses suffered, and he was forced to surrender his airline, sell his 282-foot yacht, and take out second or third mortgages on nearly all of his properties; during this period, estimates of Trump’s net worth ranged from $1.7 billion to minus $900 million.
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