Woman identified as State Department employee accuses Biden admin of being ‘complicit’ in Israel ‘genocide’
A woman identified as a State Department employee has used social media to accuse President Biden and his administration of being ‘complicit in genocide’ toward the people in Gaza and warned that it could stifle his re-election chances in 2024.
Sylvia Yacoub, who has served for more than two years as a foreign affairs officer in the State Department’s Bureau of Near East Affairs, according to her LinkedIn page, has outspokenly shared her opinions on the matter through a variety of posts to X, formerly known as Twitter.
Yacoub used the platform to take aim at President Biden and his administration over its support for Israel in the country’s war against Hamas, though the posts have since been made private.
In a response Thursday to one of Biden’s posts on X, which highlighted his support for additional U.S. military aid to Israel, Yacoub ‘You are providing significantly more military assistance to the government that is indiscriminately attacking innocent Gazans….you are complicit in genocide.’
Another post from Yacoub last month accused Biden of supporting ‘genocide’ by showing his ‘absolute support’ to Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The president’s approach to situation, Yacoub said, has ‘resulted in the deaths of thousands’ in the Middle East.
‘Hey @POTUS — so long as you keep showing absolute support for Bibi with no clear, actionable redlines or calls for ceasefire, you continue to support genocide,’ Yacoub wrote. ‘Your rhetoric and approach from day one has resulted in the deaths of thousands. There is so much blood on your hands.’
Yacoub also targeted remarks from Vice President Kamala Harris earlier this week that highlighted the Biden administration’s efforts to counter Islamophobia.
‘This should have started with an apology from [the president] for contributing to the problem,’ Yacoub responded to Harris.
Yacoub, whose LinkedIn profile notes she worked on Hillary Clinton’s 2016 presidential campaign and served as an international associate for the fellows program at the Obama Foundation, went on to accuse Harris of lacking awareness about the situation following the vice president’s meeting with U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
‘Embarrassingly out of touch @VP,’ Yacoub, according to Axios, wrote on Nov. 2 in a response to a tweet from Harris that highlighted the administration’s ‘support for Israel’s right to defend itself.’
The social media posts from Yacoub, whose X account was made private after her recent comments were highlighted in reports, also noted that Biden’s response to the war between Israel and Hamas could result in a loss of support from his base ahead of the 2024 election.
In response to a tweet from Biden that stated, ‘When rural America does well, all of America does well,’ Yacoub wrote: ‘Trying to ensure your bases vote for you after this mess?’
Yacoub on Oct. 31 also blasted the United States for its refusal to support a United Nations investigation into alleged Israeli war crimes.
‘What did you think was going to happen?’ Yacoub wrote in response to a X post by U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas Greenfield, who expressed concern over the significant uptick in violence against Palestinian civilians in the West Bank.’
‘A drastic uptick in violence started over a year ago ….. what did [U.S. government] do? Lead an aggressive campaign against the [U.N.’s] inquiry into the human rights abuses by the Israeli government,’ Yacoub added in the post.
Yacoub did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Another Oct. 29 post from Yacoub claimed the U.S. government ‘has never been on the right side of history, unless the perpetrator is a political enemy and the victims are conveniently placed or ‘relatable enough.’ The old guard must go.’
A State Department official told Fox News Digital that the agency did not have a ‘comment on someone’s personal Twitter feed,’ but highlighted the fact that Matthew Miller, a spokesperson for the executive department, has ‘spoken to the Department’s stance regarding the personal views and positions of its employees.’
‘We understand – we expect, we appreciate – that different people working in this department have different political beliefs, have different personal beliefs, have different beliefs about what United States policy should be. In fact, we think that’s one of the strengths of this government,’ Miller said during a State Department press briefing last month. ‘One of the strengths of this department is that we do have people with different opinions. We encourage them to make their opinions known. It, of course, is the President that sets policy, but we encourage everyone, even when they disagree with our policy, to let – to make their leadership know.’
Since the start of Israel’s war with Hamas, a handful of federal employees working in various agencies have been recognized for their anti-Israel stances.
Last month, Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., questioned Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas about one of his employees who praised terrorists, but still remains employed by the government.
Pressing Mayorkas on the issue and asking whether the employee had been fired, Mayorkas said the employee is currently on administrative leave, but insisted he would not speak on such an ongoing personnel matter, as Hawley asked why the social media posts were not a sufficient reason to remove her from her job.
Fox News’ Alexander Hall contributed to this report.