A senior adviser to the US ambassador to Israel allegedly suppressed, delayed and rewrote diplomatic reports in ways that protected the Israeli government from scrutiny in Washington, according to a report by The New York Times.
David Milstein, a senior official at the US Embassy in Jerusalem and a key adviser to Ambassador Mike Huckabee, reportedly intervened in sensitive communications concerning developments in the occupied West Bank, violence against civilians and the deaths of Palestinian Americans.
According to the investigation, which cited interviews with more than a dozen US officials and an examination of State Department records, Milstein repeatedly prevented assessments from reaching senior policymakers in their original form.
In March, after Israel approved what was described as record-level expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank, embassy staff prepared a warning that the move could conflict with President Donald Trump’s stated opposition to annexation. The report said Milstein stopped the memorandum and later approved a revised version that characterized the land acquisitions as a domestic issue and referred to humanitarian needs.
He was also accused of changing diplomatic reporting about increasing violence in the West Bank. When Israeli military commanders reportedly warned that attacks by settlers could contribute to a broader Palestinian uprising, some embassy assessments said Israeli authorities were failing to respond adequately. Those reports were allegedly blocked, while an alternative cable praised Netanyahu’s measures and said Israeli authorities were working to contain the violence.
The report also alleged that Milstein interfered with an embassy investigation into the deaths of nine Palestinian Americans killed by Israeli forces and settlers. Although the inquiry reportedly found that investigations had stalled without criminal charges, the embassy allegedly sent Congress a different response suggesting that Israeli authorities were cooperating on the cases.
Diplomatic reports concerning the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s aid operations were also reportedly edited. Warnings describing the distribution process as dangerous and disorganized were removed, while revised reporting presented the program more positively.
According to embassy staff, the alleged interventions significantly reduced reporting from the Palestinian affairs section, from several cables each week to only a few per month. Some officials reportedly began using alternative channels to obtain information directly from the field.
Ambassador Mike Huckabee rejected the allegations, saying the claims reported by The New York Times were inaccurate. The US State Department said its personnel remain focused on implementing the administration’s foreign policy objectives.
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