Times probe says Huckabee aide suppressed embassy reports on Israel

The New York Times reported Thursday that David Milstein, senior aide to US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, repeatedly suppressed or rewrote Jerusalem embassy reporting on Israel to shield Benjamin Netanyahu's government from scrutiny in Washington.

Why it matters: The investigation, based on interviews with 15 US officials and dozens of internal cables, lands amid already strained US-Israel tensions over West Bank annexation and settler violence, and raises questions about what Washington has not been told.

Data as of The New York Times investigation published October 8, 2026, via secondary reporting; Ambassador Huckabee's denial October 8. The Times article itself was not directly readable in this pass, so this story rests on secondary summaries and should be treated as reported, not independently confirmed.

The New York Times reported Thursday that David Milstein, senior adviser to US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee since April 2025, systematically suppressed and distorted diplomatic reporting from the Jerusalem embassy on Israel’s actions in Gaza and the West Bank. According to the investigation, Milstein blocked, delayed or rewrote embassy reports on Israeli settlement expansion, settler violence, the killing of Palestinian Americans and Gaza’s humanitarian situation, at times replacing warnings with language favorable to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government. In one cited episode, an embassy assessment warning that Israel was failing to curb a spring surge in settler violence was swapped for a cable praising Israel for cracking down on it.

Huckabee categorically denied the allegations, calling the investigation a hit piece built on anonymous sources and lacking in fact, and threatened a libel suit. The report drew on interviews with 15 US officials who worked with Milstein, nine former diplomats and a review of dozens of internal cables and memos, according to the secondary summaries.

Times probe says Huckabee aide suppressed embassy reports on Israel

Sources