US State Department lays off more than 1350 employees
Critics say the move will undermine US ability to defend and promote US interests abroad.
The layoffs, which affect 1107 civil service and 246 foreign service officers based in the United States, came on Friday at a time when Washington is grappling with multiple crises on the world stage: Russia's war in Ukraine, the almost two-year-long Gaza conflict, and the Middle East on edge due to high tension between Israel and Iran.
"The Department is streamlining domestic operations to focus on diplomatic priorities," an internal State Department notice that was sent to the workforce said.
"Headcount reductions have been carefully tailored to affect non-core functions, duplicative or redundant offices, and offices where considerable efficiencies may be found."
The total reduction in the workforce will be nearly 3000, including the voluntary departures, according to the notice and a senior State Department official, out of the 18,000 employees based in the US.
The move is the first step of a restructuring that President Donald Trump has sought to ensure US foreign policy is aligned with his "America First" agenda. Former diplomats and critics say the firing of foreign service officers risks America's ability to counter the growing assertiveness from adversaries such as China and Russia.
"President Trump and Secretary of State Rubio are once again making America less safe and less secure," Democratic senator Tim Kaine from Virginia said in a statement.
"This is one of the most ridiculous decisions that could possibly be made at a time when China is increasing its diplomatic footprint around the world and establishing an overseas network of military and transportation bases, Russia is continuing its years-long brutal assault of a sovereign country, and the Middle East is careening from crisis to crisis."
Dozens of State Department employees crowded the lobby of the agency's headquarters in Washington holding an impromptu "clap-out" for their colleagues who have been fired. Dozens of people were crying, as they carried their belongings in boxes and hugged and bid farewell to friends and fellow workers.
Many members of a State Department office overseeing the US resettlement of Afghans who worked for the US government during the 20-year war have also been terminated as part of the overhaul.
The State Department has begun firing more than 1350 US-based employees as the Trump administration presses ahead with an unprecedented overhaul of its diplomatic corp.
Critics say the move will undermine US ability to defend and promote US interests abroad.
The layoffs, which affect 1107 civil service and 246 foreign service officers based in the United States, came on Friday at a time when Washington is grappling with multiple crises on the world stage: Russia's war in Ukraine, the almost two-year-long Gaza conflict, and the Middle East on edge due to high tension between Israel and Iran.
"The Department is streamlining domestic operations to focus on diplomatic priorities," an internal State Department notice that was sent to the workforce said.
"Headcount reductions have been carefully tailored to affect non-core functions, duplicative or redundant offices, and offices where considerable efficiencies may be found."
The total reduction in the workforce will be nearly 3000, including the voluntary departures, according to the notice and a senior State Department official, out of the 18,000 employees based in the US.
The move is the first step of a restructuring that President Donald Trump has sought to ensure US foreign policy is aligned with his "America First" agenda. Former diplomats and critics say the firing of foreign service officers risks America's ability to counter the growing assertiveness from adversaries such as China and Russia.
"President Trump and Secretary of State Rubio are once again making America less safe and less secure," Democratic senator Tim Kaine from Virginia said in a statement.
"This is one of the most ridiculous decisions that could possibly be made at a time when China is increasing its diplomatic footprint around the world and establishing an overseas network of military and transportation bases, Russia is continuing its years-long brutal assault of a sovereign country, and the Middle East is careening from crisis to crisis."
Dozens of State Department employees crowded the lobby of the agency's headquarters in Washington holding an impromptu "clap-out" for their colleagues who have been fired. Dozens of people were crying, as they carried their belongings in boxes and hugged and bid farewell to friends and fellow workers.
Many members of a State Department office overseeing the US resettlement of Afghans who worked for the US government during the 20-year war have also been terminated as part of the overhaul.
The State Department has begun firing more than 1350 US-based employees as the Trump administration presses ahead with an unprecedented overhaul of its diplomatic corp.
Critics say the move will undermine US ability to defend and promote US interests abroad.
The layoffs, which affect 1107 civil service and 246 foreign service officers based in the United States, came on Friday at a time when Washington is grappling with multiple crises on the world stage: Russia's war in Ukraine, the almost two-year-long Gaza conflict, and the Middle East on edge due to high tension between Israel and Iran.
"The Department is streamlining domestic operations to focus on diplomatic priorities," an internal State Department notice that was sent to the workforce said.
"Headcount reductions have been carefully tailored to affect non-core functions, duplicative or redundant offices, and offices where considerable efficiencies may be found."
The total reduction in the workforce will be nearly 3000, including the voluntary departures, according to the notice and a senior State Department official, out of the 18,000 employees based in the US.
The move is the first step of a restructuring that President Donald Trump has sought to ensure US foreign policy is aligned with his "America First" agenda. Former diplomats and critics say the firing of foreign service officers risks America's ability to counter the growing assertiveness from adversaries such as China and Russia.
"President Trump and Secretary of State Rubio are once again making America less safe and less secure," Democratic senator Tim Kaine from Virginia said in a statement.
"This is one of the most ridiculous decisions that could possibly be made at a time when China is increasing its diplomatic footprint around the world and establishing an overseas network of military and transportation bases, Russia is continuing its years-long brutal assault of a sovereign country, and the Middle East is careening from crisis to crisis."
Dozens of State Department employees crowded the lobby of the agency's headquarters in Washington holding an impromptu "clap-out" for their colleagues who have been fired. Dozens of people were crying, as they carried their belongings in boxes and hugged and bid farewell to friends and fellow workers.
Many members of a State Department office overseeing the US resettlement of Afghans who worked for the US government during the 20-year war have also been terminated as part of the overhaul.
The State Department has begun firing more than 1350 US-based employees as the Trump administration presses ahead with an unprecedented overhaul of its diplomatic corp.
Critics say the move will undermine US ability to defend and promote US interests abroad.
The layoffs, which affect 1107 civil service and 246 foreign service officers based in the United States, came on Friday at a time when Washington is grappling with multiple crises on the world stage: Russia's war in Ukraine, the almost two-year-long Gaza conflict, and the Middle East on edge due to high tension between Israel and Iran.
"The Department is streamlining domestic operations to focus on diplomatic priorities," an internal State Department notice that was sent to the workforce said.
"Headcount reductions have been carefully tailored to affect non-core functions, duplicative or redundant offices, and offices where considerable efficiencies may be found."
The total reduction in the workforce will be nearly 3000, including the voluntary departures, according to the notice and a senior State Department official, out of the 18,000 employees based in the US.
The move is the first step of a restructuring that President Donald Trump has sought to ensure US foreign policy is aligned with his "America First" agenda. Former diplomats and critics say the firing of foreign service officers risks America's ability to counter the growing assertiveness from adversaries such as China and Russia.
"President Trump and Secretary of State Rubio are once again making America less safe and less secure," Democratic senator Tim Kaine from Virginia said in a statement.
"This is one of the most ridiculous decisions that could possibly be made at a time when China is increasing its diplomatic footprint around the world and establishing an overseas network of military and transportation bases, Russia is continuing its years-long brutal assault of a sovereign country, and the Middle East is careening from crisis to crisis."
Dozens of State Department employees crowded the lobby of the agency's headquarters in Washington holding an impromptu "clap-out" for their colleagues who have been fired. Dozens of people were crying, as they carried their belongings in boxes and hugged and bid farewell to friends and fellow workers.
Many members of a State Department office overseeing the US resettlement of Afghans who worked for the US government during the 20-year war have also been terminated as part of the overhaul.
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"Freedom of expression should not be abused by the promotion of hateful anti-Semitism and those who wish to do so should know that conduct shouldn't be tolerated by us," Mr Goot told reporters after the judgment. The cleric has been ordered to remove the lectures and not to repeat similar racist statements about Jewish people in public. He will also have to pay the legal bill for Mr Wertheim and Mr Goot, which is estimated to be in the six figures. Mr Haddad's speeches were delivered after Hamas, designated by Australia as a terrorist group, attacked Israel on October 7, 2023. The attack sparked Israeli retaliation that has left Gaza in turmoil and tens of thousands of civilians dead. An Islamist preacher who used harmful racial stereotypes about Jewish people in sermons will be forced to tell the world of his anti-Semitism through prominent online posts. 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Pinning the posts would be tantamount to promoting or advertising the findings, he said. Justice Stewart ordered the notices to be pinned for 30 days, saying the requirement was not unduly burdensome and would stop them disappearing from view. "It will prevent them from being deliberately buried by way of successive further posts," the judge wrote. Promoting the notices was part of their objective, he said. "The respondents promoted the unlawful lectures and it is not disproportionate to require them to promote the corrective notice in the relatively constrained manner described above as an appropriate form of redress," he wrote in his judgment. The notice itself highlights the "unlawful behaviour based on racial hatred" of Mr Haddad and the centre. The three lectures - titled "The Jews of Al Medina" and published on video hosting site Rumble - were reasonably likely to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate Jewish members of the Australian community, the notice says. The lawsuit was brought by Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Peter Wertheim and deputy president Robert Goot, who claimed the lectures were offensive and could incite violence towards Jewish people. The pair said they were vindicated by Justice Stewart's findings, saying no community in Australia should be dehumanised. "Freedom of expression should not be abused by the promotion of hateful anti-Semitism and those who wish to do so should know that conduct shouldn't be tolerated by us," Mr Goot told reporters after the judgment. The cleric has been ordered to remove the lectures and not to repeat similar racist statements about Jewish people in public. He will also have to pay the legal bill for Mr Wertheim and Mr Goot, which is estimated to be in the six figures. Mr Haddad's speeches were delivered after Hamas, designated by Australia as a terrorist group, attacked Israel on October 7, 2023. The attack sparked Israeli retaliation that has left Gaza in turmoil and tens of thousands of civilians dead. An Islamist preacher who used harmful racial stereotypes about Jewish people in sermons will be forced to tell the world of his anti-Semitism through prominent online posts. Sydney-based Al Madina Dawah Centre cleric Wissam Haddad was ordered by the Federal Court earlier in July not to repeat the perverse and racist tropes used in a series of fiery sermons from November 2023. In the speeches, Mr Haddad - who is also known as William Haddad or Abu Ousayd - variously referred to Jewish people as "vile", "treacherous", "murderous" and "mischievous". Justice Angus Stewart found the sermons contained "perverse generalisations" against Jewish people and included racist, anti-Semitic tropes. The judge on Thursday ordered the preacher "pin" or "feature" corrective notices describing the court's findings to the centre's website and social media pages on Facebook, Rumble, Instagram and Soundcloud. He has been given 21 days to comply with the order and the posts had not been made as of Thursday afternoon. Mr Haddad objected to prominently displaying the notices, saying this would go beyond what was ordinarily ordered by the courts. Pinning the posts would be tantamount to promoting or advertising the findings, he said. Justice Stewart ordered the notices to be pinned for 30 days, saying the requirement was not unduly burdensome and would stop them disappearing from view. "It will prevent them from being deliberately buried by way of successive further posts," the judge wrote. Promoting the notices was part of their objective, he said. "The respondents promoted the unlawful lectures and it is not disproportionate to require them to promote the corrective notice in the relatively constrained manner described above as an appropriate form of redress," he wrote in his judgment. The notice itself highlights the "unlawful behaviour based on racial hatred" of Mr Haddad and the centre. The three lectures - titled "The Jews of Al Medina" and published on video hosting site Rumble - were reasonably likely to offend, insult, humiliate or intimidate Jewish members of the Australian community, the notice says. The lawsuit was brought by Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Peter Wertheim and deputy president Robert Goot, who claimed the lectures were offensive and could incite violence towards Jewish people. The pair said they were vindicated by Justice Stewart's findings, saying no community in Australia should be dehumanised. "Freedom of expression should not be abused by the promotion of hateful anti-Semitism and those who wish to do so should know that conduct shouldn't be tolerated by us," Mr Goot told reporters after the judgment. The cleric has been ordered to remove the lectures and not to repeat similar racist statements about Jewish people in public. He will also have to pay the legal bill for Mr Wertheim and Mr Goot, which is estimated to be in the six figures. Mr Haddad's speeches were delivered after Hamas, designated by Australia as a terrorist group, attacked Israel on October 7, 2023. The attack sparked Israeli retaliation that has left Gaza in turmoil and tens of thousands of civilians dead.
