The US State Department fired its top press officer for Israeli-Palestinian affairs, Shahed Ghoreishi, following multiple disputes over how to characterize key Trump administration policies, including a controversial plan to relocate hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip that critics consider ethnic cleansing.
According to The Washington Post, Ghoreishi was fired on Monday.
His dismissal came just days after he drafted a statement for the department stating that the US does not support “forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza,” something that President Donald Trump and his special envoy Steve Witkoff have said repeatedly.
However, high-ranking State Department officials rejected Ghoreishi’s usage of the line.
US officials said the firing has sent a chilling message inside the department that deviations from pro-Israel language will not be tolerated, even when they align with past US policy, the Post reported.
State Department spokesperson Tommy Pigott declined to discuss the details. “We do not comment on leaked emails or allegations,” he told the Post. “Federal employees should never put their personal political ideologies ahead of the duly elected president’s agenda.”
Ghoreishi told the Post he was given no explanation for his dismissal, which the State Department was not required to provide due to his contractor status.
“Despite a strong reputation and close working relationship with many of my colleagues, I was unable to survive these disputes,” he said, adding that the language he recommended had previously been cleared since Trump took office in January.
Another Dispute
The Post said Ghoreishi also recommended expressing condolences after the killing of Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif and several other journalists in Gaza City. Israel said al-Sharif was a Hamas member.
“We mourn the loss of journalists and express condolences to their families,” Ghoreishi proposed, but State Department leadership rejected the idea in an August 10 email, saying, “No response is needed. We can’t be sending out condolences if we are unsure of this individual’s actions.”
The Post also reported that David Milstein, a senior adviser to US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, was a key opponent of Ghoreishi.
Milstein frequently intervened in State Department matters to defend Israel, according to the Post.
Also, another dispute was reported between Ghoreishi and Milstein and involved the use of “Judea and Samaria” as opposed to “West Bank” in a statement.
Ghoreishi said he removed the term “Judea and Samaria” from a press statement about US House Speaker Mike Johnson’s visit and replaced it with the term “West Bank.”
Ghoreishi’s dismissal comes amid media reports saying Israeli officials are holding talks in South Sudan about the potential relocations of thousands of Gazans in the East African country.
