A top press officer who was fired by the State Department last week after pushing back on the government’s aggressive language regarding Israel and Palestinians now says his ouster is contributing to a “chilling effect” within the department, particularly among colleagues who share his concerns.
In his first interview since his firing, Shahed Ghoreishi told Democracy Now that while the State Department gave no explanation for his exit, the incident followed several disputes in which department officials condemned Ghoreishi for characterizing U.S. positions on Gaza to include what the former press officer said was humanity and empathy.
“I believe that basic U.S. interests and human decency were important in my role,” Ghoreishi told the outlet Friday. “And last week, I think three events from Sunday, Monday and Tuesday built up to aggravate the radical ideologues at the State Department and in Embassy Jerusalem to lead to my firing.”
Ghoreishi had been serving as a press officer since September 2024, and in January moved to draft official language and talking points specifically about the U.S. government’s position on Israeli-Palestinian affairs.
On Aug. 17, Ghoreishi suggested that language around Israel’s recent killing of high-profile Palestinian journalist Anas al-Sharif and his five colleagues should include mourning for the loss of journalists and condolences to their families. According to the ex-press officer, the department immediately said it cannot give condolences because Israel has accused al-Sharif of being a member of Hamas.
“I have an issue with relying on Israelis for every intelligence and comments. So we should be able to pause and evaluate things,” Ghoreishi told Democracy Now. “If they had said, ‘Hey we’re gonna wait 48 hours and confirm,’ that’d be one thing. But immediately deferring to the Israelis is highly problematic.”
On Aug. 18, State Department leadership rejected a line drafted by Ghoreishi in a press release about Israel’s plan to violently force nearly a million Palestinians out of Gaza City. The line read, “We do not support forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza,” a message previously used by President Donald Trump and Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff.
On Aug. 19, Ghoreishi pushed back against an effort to officially refer to the occupied West Bank as the biblical “Judea and Samaria,” a name used by many Israelis and Zionists. The Washington Post reported that the effort was largely led by David Milstein, a top adviser to U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee. Ghoreishi was still able to cut the line, keeping the previously approved “West Bank” as official State Department language.
“In a general sense, the civil servants there are doing their job. They know their role, they recognize the administration they’re under and the prerogative,” he said. “But at the same time, people are aware that, especially in the press context … being empathetic, a bit more empathetic, just at least showing concern, is just basic press advice. And so people are concerned about the aggressive language.”
“And now when someone like Milstein and the secretary’s office clamp down and fire someone like me, that puts a chilling effect on people who might give that advice, that we need to call this out or be more empathetic or try to deliver things with a bit more human decency,” he added.
After his firing, the Iranian American was targeted by right-wing figure Laura Loomer, who accused him of not being loyal enough to the Trump administration and its Middle East policies. Tommy Pigott, the State Department’s deputy spokesperson, said the department “has zero tolerance for employees” who leak “confidential deliberate emails or information.” Ghoreishi called the accusations “baseless.”
