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Reports have emerged that Milstein, an American diplomat working at the US Embassy in Jerusalem, distorted and censored official intelligence and diplomatic reports on Israel’s actions before they were sent to Washington. The New York Times (NYT) reported the allegations, citing US officials and internal documents.
Operative Information Center-OMM reports that, according to the newspaper’s investigation, the Israeli government approved a plan at the end of March this year to establish new Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Although the US Embassy’s diplomatic staff prepared an urgent report saying the move contradicted President Donald Trump’s stated principle of “no annexation of the West Bank,” the document did not reach Washington. Milstein, a senior adviser to Ambassador Mike Huckabee, is reported to have blocked the warning cable from being sent.
According to sources cited by the newspaper, soon after taking up his post in April 2025, Milstein regularly altered diplomatic communications to present the actions of Israel’s leadership in a positive light. As violence by Jewish settlers against civilians in the West Bank increased, a report prepared by the embassy on Tel Aviv’s inaction was replaced, following Milstein’s intervention, with a document saying that Israeli security forces had “responded appropriately to the attacks.”
In addition, when members of the US Congress sought official explanations for the deaths of nine Palestinian Americans killed by Israeli settlers and soldiers, the diplomat allegedly withheld a detailed report prepared by the embassy and obstructed lawmakers’ efforts to obtain information.
The NYT writes that Milstein required all internal communications from the department handling Palestinian affairs to receive his approval. Amid staff concerns that reports could be distorted, the number of diplomatic cables sent to Washington fell from several a week to a few a month. Officials said the interventions prevented the Trump administration from responding firmly to Israel’s unlawful actions and effectively paved the way for the expansion of the occupation zone in the West Bank.
It remains unclear how much Ambassador Mike Huckabee knew about his adviser’s activities. Milstein, the stepson of prominent US conservative radio host Mark Levin, is known as one of the key figures coordinating high-level diplomatic contacts between Washington and Tel Aviv.
