NYT, as Relayed by Middle East Eye and Common Dreams: Huckabee Aide David Milstein Blocked or Rewrote Embassy Reports, Including One on Israeli Investigations of Nine Palestinian Americans' Killings; Huckabee Denies

Sequence, with date kinds. The New York Times investigation was published Thursday (Jerusalem Post page date OCTOBER 8, 2026); the Times original was paywalled and not read, so everything below is the Times as relayed by Middle East Eye, Common Dreams and IBTimes, all secondary reporting.

• What was reported: per the Times, David Milstein, 36, described by IBTimes as: “David Milstein is a senior adviser to US Ambassador Mike Huckabee, overseeing much of the embassy’s West Bank and Gaza portfolio” (title from secondary reporting only; no State or Embassy page naming it was found), blocked, rewrote or delayed reports to Washington. The Middle East Eye summary: “David Milstein, 36, has blocked, rewritten or delayed reports to Washington about illegal Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank, Israeli settler violence, and the killings of nine Palestinian Americans”.
• One report concerned Israeli investigations of the killings of “nine Palestinian Americans”. The victims are Palestinian Americans per the Times as relayed, not Americans generally. Embassy officials’ report found, in Common Dreams’ quotation of the Times: “its central findings suggested that, in most cases, investigations had made little progress, that some cases had been closed, and that no one had been charged in any of the killings”. Instead of sending it: “Instead of forwarding the report, Mr. Milstein argued that the embassy should send a letter saying that Israel was properly handling the investigations”, per officials.
• Limits stated by the Times as relayed: “It is unclear how much Huckabee knew about Milstein’s interventions”. Sources were anonymous.
• Huckabee on social media: “I personally and categorically refute the elements of your proposed ‘story’ and I’m surprised that you expect to be taken seriously with such nonsense without even one named source”.
• State Department to the Times: “the entire team at State remains focused on advancing President Trump’s America First agenda”.

Related: 2026-10-16–wapo-photographer-heidi-levine-beaten-by-masked-settlers-us-embassy-state-huckabee-rubio-response.