US Embassy aide allegedly altered Israel-related cables to shield Netanyahu government

David Milstein, a close aide to US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee, systematically interfered with embassy communications to the State Department and the White House. He is alleged to have blocked an urgent cable about a surge in West Bank settlements that could violate Trump’s annexation red line, rewritten a report on lethal violence at Gaza aid distribution points to portray it as successful, and prevented a detailed briefing on the investigations of nine Palestinian-American deaths.

Milstein also replaced reports on settler violence with a cable praising Netanyahu’s crackdown and reduced the frequency of Palestinian-affairs cables dramatically. Washington officials have bypassed normal channels to obtain accurate information, and Huckabee dismissed the altered reporting as “farcical.” The revelations have reportedly caused a chilling effect among embassy staff, who fear further censorship of their analyses.