A top aide to State Senator Julia Salazar who praised Hamas on a personal social media channel following the terrorist group’s deadly incursion into Israel was fired Monday morning.
Salazar’s Director of Communications and Policy Sarah Campbell was told she could resign or face layoffs before she was finally fired Monday — a decision handed down by the Senate’s Democratic Leadership, the former staffer told The Times Union.
Hours after news broke on October 7 of a surprise Hamas attack on Israel, which left at least 1,200 Israelis dead, Campbell wrote “By any means,” on X.
“After decades of violent occupation, armed resistance is justified,” he wrote on Oct. 12.
He continued: “I don’t condemn Hamas, I condemn Israel. Who has reigned more violence: Hamas for their entire existence, or Israel in just the last 30 days? Which group has killed more civilians? Millions moved? Hospital bombed? Killing premature babies? All the people are starving?”
The Brooklyn Democrat fired the staffer after learning about their personal social media posts. X @srh_cmpbll
Campbell, who has given Salazar access to his personal social media accounts, said the comments were posted on private channels that cannot be seen by the public.
Although Campbell’s X account is private, The Post was able to obtain screenshots of his posts.
Salazar’s former Director of Communications and Policy Sarah Campbell was terminated on Monday. The same day Hamas launched its deadly invasion of Israel, Campbell wrote, “By any means necessary” on XX @srh_cmpbll
“There’s never been any problem with me expressing things on Twitter personally,” Campbell told the paper, adding that he recently got a positive performance review with the Brooklyn Democrat.
“I was never told my personal beliefs were a problem. I was never told I had to reduce it.”
Salazar, a Democratic Socialist, has called for a ceasefire while trying to tone down the left’s most extreme rhetoric about the war.
Campbell told The Times Union he recently got a positive performance review. Salazar, a Democratic Socialist, has called for a ceasefire while trying to tone down the left’s most extreme rhetoric about the war. William Farrington
“Some on the left … wrongly minimize or deliberately ignore the horrific crimes of Hamas militants against Israeli civilians,” he wrote in an Op-Ed for Jacobin, a socialist magazine.
Salazar notes that this may happen when the left tries to maintain “the impossible image of the Palestinians as incapable of unjustified violence.”
Keep up with the news on the Israel-Hamas war and the surge in global antisemitism with The Post’s Israel War Updates, delivered straight to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Salazar considered his former staffer’s position “reckless and completely unacceptable.” Paul Martinka
“But the reason Palestinians deserve to be freed is not because they are perfect victims,” Salazar continued. “There is no such thing as a perfect victim. On the other hand, the Palestinian people deserve to be freed because they are human beings.”
Apparently in response to The Post’s initial report about Campbell’s social media posts, the Brooklyn Democrat defended his office and stated that his former staffer’s post was “reckless and completely unacceptable.”
Follow The Post’s live blog for the latest news on Hamas attacks on Israel
“It is too late at night to fully address the cynical hit article published about a social media post posted by a staff member to his personal locked social media account without my knowledge. His personal thoughts are not mine, and do not reflect me or my office in any way” Salazar wrote.
“Those who know me know that I take my role as a public servant seriously; I do my work thoughtfully, choose my words carefully,” he continued. “I will not allow anyone to wrongly pin reckless and unacceptable words to me or my office. I want nothing to do with that.”
Categories: Trending
Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
