The dismissal came after several disagreements over how to characterize key policies of President Donald Trump's administration, according to sources, and days after an internal debate over issuing a statement that read, "We do not support forced displacement in Gaza."
According to a memo cited by the Washington Post, the US State Department leadership rejected the drafted sentence and directed officials to delete it.
The newspaper quoted the dismissed official as saying, "My dismissal raised questions about the State Department's position on the potential expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza."
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Another dispute erupted within the US State Department following Israel's assassination of Al Jazeera journalist Anas al-Sharif. The dismissed official recommended adding "We mourn the loss of the journalists and offer our condolences to their families" to the statement, but the State Department objected to the addition, on the grounds that "condolences cannot be offered without verifying this individual's actions."
In a related development, the newspaper revealed that David Milstein, senior advisor to US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, was one of the most vocal opponents of the dismissed official's presence at the State Department. The two men disagreed over the State Department's efforts to refer to the West Bank as "Judea and Samaria."
