David Milstein, a senior aide to Trump's ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, repeatedly suppressed or reshaped U.S. Embassy reporting that was critical of the Israeli government, the New York Times reported on October 8, 2026. The Times interviewed 15 U.S. officials who worked with Milstein, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, and said it obtained or reviewed dozens of documents, cables and memos. SOURCING NOTE: every account in the report comes from anonymous officials, and Huckabee denies it.
According to the Times, after Israel approved a record number of West Bank settlements in late March, at the height of the Iran war, embassy staff saw the move as potentially flouting one of Trump's red lines and drafted an urgent report for Washington; it was quashed by Milstein, according to three officials. As settler violence surged in the spring, he stymied embassy reporting suggesting Israel was failing to act, and the embassy instead sent a cable to Washington praising Israel for “cracking down” on them. When members of Congress pushed for accountability over the killings of Palestinian Americans, Milstein “suppressed a detailed report that the embassy staff had written,” the Times reported. The Daily Caller, relaying the Times, said the report concerned the killings of nine Americans in the West Bank and that Milstein pushed to send Sen. Chris Van Hollen a letter instead.
Huckabee told the Times, “I personally and categorically refute the elements of your proposed 'story.'” Responsible Statecraft reported a similar pattern in Milstein's role in September 2025. The Media Line carried an analyst's view that the conduct described was ordinary oversight.