Senator Julia Salazar fires adviser after anti-Israel tweets
A top aide to State Senator Julia Salazar who praised Hamas on a private social media channel following the terror group’s deadly attack on Israel was fired Monday morning.
Salazar’s communications and policy director, Sarah Campbell, was told she could either resign or face firing before her eventual firing on Monday – a decision made by the Senate’s Democratic leadership. the former employee told The Times Union.
Hours after news broke of Hamas’ surprise attack on Israel on October 7, killing at least 1,200 Israelis, Campbell wrote on X: “By any means possible.”
“After how many decades of violent occupation, armed resistance is justified,” she wrote on October 12.
She continued: “I don’t condemn Hamas, I condemn Israel.” Who has reigned in more terror: Hamas throughout its existence or Israel in the last 30 days alone? Which group massacred more civilians? Millions displaced? Bombed hospitals? Premature babies killed? Let an entire people starve?”
Campbell, who gave Salazar access to her personal social media account, said the comments were posted on a private channel not visible to the public.
While Campbell’s X account is private, The Post was able to obtain screenshots of her posts.
“There have never been any issues with me making things known personally on Twitter,” Campbell told the newspaper, adding that she recently received a positive performance review from the Brooklyn Democrat.
“I was never told that my personal beliefs were a problem. I was never told to tone it down.”
Salazar, a democratic socialist, has called for a ceasefire while trying to suppress the left’s most extreme war rhetoric.
“Some on the left… are deliberately trivializing or ignoring the horrific crimes of Hamas militants against Israeli civilians,” she wrote in one Op-Ed for Jacobina socialist magazine.
Salazar pointed out that this is likely happening because leftists are trying to “perpetuate an impossible image of Palestinians as incapable of ever committing unjustified violence.”
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“But the reason Palestinians deserve liberation is not because they are perfect victims,” Salazar continued. “There is no perfect victim. Instead, Palestinians deserve liberation because they are human beings.”
Apparently responding to the Post’s initial report on Campbell’s social media posts, the Brooklyn Democrat defended her office, saying her former staffer’s posts were “reckless and completely unacceptable.”
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“It is too late at night to fully respond to the cynical hit article about social media posts that an employee posted on her personal, blocked social media account without my knowledge. Your personal thoughts are not mine and do not reflect me or my office in any way,” Salazar wrote.
“Anyone who knows me knows that I take my role as a public servant seriously; I do my work carefully and choose my words carefully,” she continued. “I will not allow anyone to falsely blame me or my office for another person’s reckless and completely unacceptable words. I don’t want anything to do with that.”
