LONDON: US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard decided against appointing a critic of Israel’s war in Gaza to a top government post over fears that doing so would anger members of President Donald Trump’s administration.
Daniel Davis, a senior fellow at the Defense Priorities think tank in Washington, was under consideration for the role of deputy director for mission integration, in charge of — among other things — putting together the president’s daily intelligence briefings.
However, a source within the administration told the New York Times that Gabbard reconsidered the appointment after Davis’s recommendation received criticism from several of her colleagues, Republican members of Congress, and other right-wing bodies and figures over his stance on Israel.
Davis wrote on social media in January that US support for the Gaza war was a “stain on our character as a nation, as a culture, that will not soon go away.”
On Wednesday, the Anti-Defamation League said his appointment would be “extremely dangerous.”
Marc Polymeropoulos, a former CIA operations officer, said Davis’s stance on the conflict ran contrary to mainstream Republican positions.
“His overt criticism of Israel and total opposition to any military action against Iran seems to run counter to current administration policy,” added Polymeropoulos, a fellow at the Atlantic Council.
The NYT reported that “allies” of Davis said there was “no hint of antisemitism or opposition to Israel in his work.”
Davis is known to be skeptical of US involvement in a number of overseas conflicts, in line with the position of Defense Priorities, which has called for less American involvement in the Middle East and an end to the war in Ukraine.
Davis has also been vocal about the suffering of Palestinians, calling plans to remove people from Gaza “ethnic cleansing.”
Gabbard is also a skeptic of US overseas intervention, and while she has said little about Gaza in recent months, Davis has been vocal on social media in supporting similar stances to her on conflicts such as Ukraine and the transition in Syria.
However, the Trump administration is known to be split on foreign policy directions the president should pursue, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio and National Security Advisor Michael Waltz known to be more hawkish, especially on US policy toward Iran.
