David Milstein, the US Ambassador’s chief of staff, softened and prevented the sending of reports critical of the Netanyahu government
Ynet News
David Milstein, senior adviser to U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, repeatedly blocked and/or substantially altered reports critical of Israel in an effort to present Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government in a more favorable light to the Trump administration in Washington, a New York Times investigation published Thursday alleges.
For the investigation, NY Times reporters interviewed 15 current U.S. officials who had worked with Milstein in some capacity, as well as nine former diplomats who helped provide background.
The newspaper also obtained or reviewed dozens of documents, cables, memos and other internal communications that showed Milstein’s involvement in changing embassy reporting.
Most of those who spoke to the Times said they did so out of concern that Milstein’s actions were undermining standard diplomatic work. Some also expressed concern that his actions contradicted President Donald Trump’s stated policies.
One example cited in the investigation took place in late March, at the height of the war with Iran, when Israel quietly approved more West Bank settlements than ever before. A sharply worded, urgent report on the move never reached the U.S. administration, which, according to three U.S. officials, was blocked by Milstein.
A similar case occurred in April, when senior IDF officials warned that settler violence in the West Bank could ignite a new Palestinian uprising. Embassy personnel tried to relay those warnings to Washington, but Milstein prevented the reports from being sent in their original form, according to three officials.
Instead, Milstein praised Netanyahu’s ‘new and unprecedented initiatives’ to combat violence in the West Bank. The report was titled: ‘Government Acts Forcefully Against Escalating Violence in the West Bank.’
Another case involved members of Congress who requested information about the deaths of nine Palestinian Americans in the West Bank over the past four years. According to multiple officials, Milstein blocked a detailed report prepared by embassy staff, effectively thwarting lawmakers’ efforts to obtain the information.
The main findings in the blocked report showed that in most cases the investigations had made very little progress, that some files had been closed and that no one had been prosecuted over the deaths, according to those officials.
Instead of sending the report, Milstein argued that the embassy should send a letter stating that Israel was handling the investigations properly.
Officials who spoke with the Times said that, shortly after returning to the embassy in Jerusalem at the start of Trump’s second term in the White House, Milstein began insisting on approving outgoing correspondence from the embassy section dealing with Palestinian matters.
The volume of reporting fell from several reports a week to only a handful a month, because some staff members stopped writing reports out of fear that Milstein would block or rewrite them, those officials said.
According to several officials, Milstein’s interventions went far beyond those of any of his predecessors. They and others said they were speaking out because they feared officials in Washington were receiving a distorted picture of Israeli actions through key diplomatic channels.
Milstein’s efforts, they said, helped shield the Netanyahu government from potentially harsher responses by the Trump administration.
The Times noted that it is unclear to what extent Huckabee was aware of Milstein’s actions. Both Huckabee and Milstein declined the newspaper’s requests for interviews. Huckabee is required to approve most major reports and decisions made by Milstein, but officials said the adviser sometimes acted on his own.
According to those officials, Huckabee at times worked with Milstein to withhold information or present it differently to the administration. In other instances, however, he believed Milstein had gone too far and stopped him.
Milstein’s efforts to influence embassy reporting were first exposed a year ago by the online magazine ‘Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft’, a Washington think tank that advocates reduced tensions and greater restraint in U.S. military policy.
The Times investigation however presented documented evidence and previously unreported cases in which Milstein allegedly sought to tilt information in favor of the Netanyahu government. The documented activity, the report said, continued throughout the past year.
Those who spoke with the Times included career government officials and political appointees, including strong supporters of the U.S.-Israel relationship.
Concern over Milstein’s conduct also spread to senior administration officials in Washington, including in the White House, who expressed frustration to colleagues over some of his actions, according to four people.
It remains unclear whether or how Milstein’s interventions affected White House policy toward Israel. Since Trump declared a year ago that he would not allow Israel to annex the West Bank, he has rarely spoken publicly on the issue.
In response to questions sent to the embassy about Milstein’s actions, Huckabee did not address the specific cases described in the investigation.
‘The events in the investigation are so incomplete, in fact, that they are consistent with other ridiculous efforts by the Times. I personally and categorically reject the allegations presented in the investigation,’ he said.
The U.S. State Department said: ‘The entire State Department team remains focused on advancing President Trump’s America First agenda.’
Who is David Milstein?
Milstein is a familiar figure in right-wing circles in the United States and Israel, and has repeatedly arranged meetings between Huckabee and senior Israeli officials. Still, he is not especially well known in either country, and his role as a gatekeeper for information flowing to Washington had received relatively little attention until now.
Milstein’s stepfather is right-wing radio host Mark Levin, a close ally of Trump. Netanyahu has also appeared on Levin’s program several times in recent years. The connection among the three is well known in Washington and at the embassy, officials in Jerusalem and Washington told the Times.
Milstein identifies as a conservative and longtime Republican. He previously served as an aide to pro-Israel Texas Sen. Ted Cruz from 2013 to 2018, before moving to Israel to study at a Jerusalem yeshiva. In 2020, he took a job as an aide to then-U.S. Ambassador David Friedman.
As an adviser to Huckabee, Milstein is now one of the most senior officials at the U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem. According to the Times, he functions as a kind of chief of staff for the ambassador.
Huckabee has authorized him to oversee much of the mission’s portfolio, particularly developments in the West Bank and Gaza. His responsibilities include reviewing and editing information sent to Washington, including the reports he is accused of softening in Israel’s favor.
Officials with professional familiarity with Milstein said he goes to unusual lengths to portray Israel positively. They said he has blocked critical reporting, rewritten reports to convey a different — sometimes opposite — message from the original, and delayed approving drafts until the issue was no longer relevant.
One prominent case cited in the investigation occurred in the summer of 2025, when dozens of Palestinians arrived at a food distribution point in Gaza run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, or GHF, which was backed by Jerusalem and Washington.
U.S. diplomats drafted a report for the Trump administration warning that the foundation’s distribution process was chaotic and deadly, and cautioning about additional ‘mass casualty incidents.’
According to officials who saw the original report, Milstein rewrote it to declare the GHF operation a success, while omitting the mass casualties.
The discrepancy did not go unnoticed at the White House, which saw a striking gap between news reports and embassy reporting.
As a result, White House and State Department officials sought a clearer picture of events and, on at least two occasions, contacted embassy staff directly to obtain a more reliable account.
Former U.S. diplomats who spoke with the New York Times said distorting information sent to Washington should raise serious concerns.
‘The embassy should tell Washington everything — the good, the bad and the ugly,’ said Dan Kurtzer, who served as U.S. ambassador to Israel under President George W. Bush.