Conservative Commentator’s Stepson Accused of Withholding Reports on US Deaths in Middle East

David Milstein, the stepson of conservative Fox News commentator Mark Levin and a senior adviser to U.S. ambassador Mike Huckabee, allegedly blocked embassy reporting about Americans killed by Israeli settlers and security forces.

The deaths at issue occurred in the West Bank, not Gaza. Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) subsequently requested a hearing and the release of the original embassy report on the Americans’ deaths.

An Oct. 8 investigation by the New York Times described efforts to suppress or alter diplomatic reporting critical of Israel. The allegations, citing anonymous sources, raise questions about whether Congress and administration officials received the information needed to assess accountability and enforce restrictions on U.S. military assistance.

Reports Withheld From Congress

Van Hollen said that he and 30 colleagues wrote this past March to U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Huckabee, the ambassador to Israel, seeking updates on investigations into nine Americans’ deaths in the West Bank since January 2022.

The Oct. 9 letter to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee claims they never received the requested information.

Embassy staff completed a report in March finding that most investigations into the nine Americans’ deaths had made little progress, as some cases had been closed and no one had been charged in any of the killings.

Milstein allegedly blocked that report and instead advocated for sending a letter saying Israel was properly handling the investigations.

The May 4 response lawmakers received emphasized the embassy’s reduced staffing during the Iran War, security cooperation with Israel, and protection of Americans against Iranian attacks. It said the embassy was working with Israel to ensure accountability but did not provide the requested investigation updates.

Refuting the Allegations

The investigation also alleges that Milstein rewrote a Gaza cable warning that the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s aid distribution was chaotic, deadly and risked further mass casualties—recasting the operation as a success while overlooking those deaths.

Separately, he allegedly blocked reporting about Israel’s failure to curb settler violence. The embassy instead sent Washington a cable praising an Israeli crackdown.

Huckabee denied the allegations.

“The elements of the story the New York Times is trying to assemble are so lacking in fact that it ranks up with other Times farcical endeavors like the embarrassing ‘dog rape’ story, or the totally debunked story about a small boy being shot in the face by IDF in Gaza,” Huckabee wrote Oct. 8 on X. “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.”

Levin’s Oct. 8 broadcast characterized the coverage as an effort by bureaucrats and anonymous sources to undermine the administration.

Van Hollen asked Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) to obtain the original report intended for Congress. That document could establish what embassy personnel knew and how their findings differed from the information lawmakers received.

A Family Connection

Milstein’s mother, Julie Strauss Levin, is Mark Levin’s wife and general counsel at America First Legal, which Stephen Miller co-founded.

The organization has pursued aid restrictions tied to another American’s killing. The Taylor Force Act, enacted in 2018, bears the name of a former U.S. Army officer and Iraq and Afghanistan veteran killed in a March 2016 attack.

It restricts certain economic assistance directly benefiting the Palestinian Authority unless specified conditions are met, including ending payments for acts of terrorism and taking steps toward accountability.

America First Legal represented Force’s parents and other plaintiffs in litigation seeking enforcement. In May, the organization announced a settlement with the U.S. State Department. Strauss Levin praised it as a means of ensuring lasting compliance with the law.

America First Legal pursued aid restrictions following an American veteran’s killing by a Palestinian attacker, while Milstein allegedly withheld reports about Americans killed by Israeli settlers and security forces. All Americans deserve the same commitment to accountability, regardless of the perpetrator’s nationality.

That contrast raises a question for an organization calling itself America First Legal: whether its advocacy extends to Americans killed by Israelis with the same urgency it brings to Americans killed by Palestinians.

Families Have Long Sought Answers

Following the July 2025 killing of Sayfollah Musallet—a 20-year-old American from Tampa, Fla.—relatives of Americans slain in the West Bank sought independent investigations questioning whether Israeli authorities would hold perpetrators accountable.

Huckabee publicly demanded an aggressive investigation into Musallet’s killing.

The congressional resolution introduced in September sought information about nine American deaths. It requested investigative updates, information about potential suspects, and the identities of implicated security force units.

On Sept. 29, senators voted 47-51 against discharging that resolution, S.Res. 852, from the Foreign Relations Committee, blocking its advancement through the motion.

The measure would have invoked Section 502B(c) of the Foreign Assistance Act. Under that statutory procedure, a request adopted by either congressional chamber, or made by either chamber’s designated foreign affairs committee, requires the secretary of state to provide a statement within 30 days.

Failure to provide the statement bars delivery of covered security assistance until it arrives, except assistance subsequently specifically authorized by law. An ordinary letter signed by individual senators does not trigger that provision.

The unanswered March letter therefore did not itself activate an aid cutoff.

Military Assistance Carries Legal Conditions

Separate Leahy laws restrict assistance to foreign security force units implicated in gross human rights violations.

The State Department provision prohibits covered assistance when the secretary has credible information that a unit committed such a violation. It also requires procedures to evaluate and preserve information and identify implicated units.

The Defense Department provision similarly restricts training, equipment and other assistance. Before an assistance decision, defense officials must give full consideration to credible information available to the State Department concerning the unit’s human rights violations.

The Leahy restrictions apply to individual units, rather than automatically barring all assistance to Israel. Private settlers are not themselves foreign security force units, but evidence implicating soldiers or other security personnel can affect assistance eligibility.

The State Department’s provision permits an exception when the foreign government takes effective steps to bring responsible members to justice. DOD’s provision contains corrective-action and emergency exceptions, plus an extraordinary-circumstances waiver requiring congressional notification.

An Earlier Accountability Dispute

Israeli soldiers detained Omar Assad, an elderly Palestinian American, in January 2022; he died after being bound, blindfolded and gagged.

A previous investigation documented internal recommendations to restrict assistance to the implicated Netzah Yehuda battalion.

In August 2024, the State Department determined that Israel had sufficiently addressed the unit’s violations, allowing assistance to continue. Critics disputed that conclusion.

The current allegations concern whether information necessary for such judgments was withheld. Obtaining the original embassy report would allow Congress to examine what officials knew, what lawmakers were told, and whether relevant findings reached those responsible for military-assistance decisions.