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Shakeba Morrad, a US attorney at the office of General Counsel for the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, has sparked outrage for deriding Israelis pleading for the return of citizens being held hostage by Hamas.
A video circulating online on Twitter, formerly known as X, showed Shakeba Morrad seemingly imitating Israelis demanding the return of hostages. In the bizarre clip, Morrad was heard griping:
“We just want our hostages back. Give us our hostages.”
The since-deleted clip has appalled social media users who began widely sharing the footage in an attempt to have Morrad fired from her job as an attorney of General Counsel for the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs.
Shakeba Morrad faces backlash over a clip seemingly mocking the plight of Israelis
US attorney at the office of General Counsel for the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, Shakeba Morrad, is facing the wrath of X (formerly called Twitter) after she posted a video seemingly taunting Israelis, pleading for the return of hostages.
Morrad is one of many people across the country who has publicly taken a strong stance in the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict that began after the Palestinian militant group attacked the Jewish state and killed over 1400 people before taking over 200 hostages on Oct. 7.
The conflict, which has killed over 13,000 Palestinians, has seen a strong response from people across the world, including, luminaries, who have publicly expressed impassioned opinions and triggered controversy online.
Shakeba Morrad has joined the long list of people slammed over seemingly unsavory comments regarding the Israel-Hamas conflict.
Morrad’s conduct as a government official has prompted social media users to demand that she be fired from her job. A social media critic, who blasted Morrad over “vile” behavior online, highlighted the attorney’s seeming lack of empathy for the suffering of innocent people.
“This is vile. Shakeba Morrad should be ashamed of herself. How dare you mock the suffering of innocent children from the comfort of your home & as a government employee no less. What veteran would feel comfortable near a person like this?”
Echoing the statement, another netizen wrote:
“Shakeba Morrad needs to be fired. As an American citizen and taxpayer, I'm extremely concerned that the US government had poor judgment in hiring her. Her comments are vile and hateful."
Shakeba Morrad’s statements come amid the spike in islamophobia and antisemitism across the world due to the Israel-Hamas conflict.
A professor at Washington University, Bret Gustafson, is also under fire after he seemingly suggested that setting off gas canisters at a Jewish home was “cool.”
The comment was in response to a social media user criticizing a protest outside the American Israel Public Affairs Committee president’s Los Angeles home, where demonstrators set off smoke devices and spattered fake blood. In response to the criticism, Bret Gustafson wrote:
“I agree with everything you write, but I'm not sure you were right here. Nobody was harmed. It’s an escrache tactic ( Look it up) pretty cool I’d say. Let those who enable mass murder not live in peace.”
According to his university profile online, Gustafson is an Associate Professor of Sociocultural Anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis.
