Daniel Davis has accused Israel of pursuing ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Gazans and blamed Oct. 7 on Jewish state
Daniel Davis, the onetime pick to serve as deputy director of national intelligence who was yanked from consideration this week over his anti-Israel views, likened himself to Christ on the cross as he tacitly blamed Jews for detonating his nomination.
“Shortly before His death, Jesus was on trial before Pontius Pilate. All sorts of agitators were accusing Him of many things, some true, others not,” Davis, a senior fellow at the isolationist Defense Priorities think tank, wrote Thursday on X, shortly after Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard removed him from consideration to be her deputy director of national intelligence for mission integration.
“But Jesus said nothing in his own defense, as recorded in Matthew 27.”
“What He suffered, and the unjust things He endured, are orders of magnitude higher than anything to which I may have been subject,” Davis continued. “If He can do that under such arduous conditions, then as a follower of Jesus Christ, so too should I, especially under far lesser circumstances. This is all I will have to say on any recent events related to me in the news.”
Davis was slated to assume the high-level role until Jewish Insider highlighted his history of advocating against the U.S.-Israel relationship and downplaying the threat posed by Iran. From there, his policy views prompted widespread opposition from prominent Trump administration allies, including Mark Levin, who referred to Davis as a “bizarre” nominee.
During his time at Defense Priorities—a think tank bankrolled by the influential isolationist Koch family—Davis repeatedly opposed military intervention to stop Tehran’s pursuit of a nuclear weapon. This put him starkly at odds with President Donald Trump, who has affirmed in recent weeks that U.S. military action is on the table to stop Iran’s march towards an atomic bomb.
Davis has also been a vocal critic of Israel, questioning America’s military support to the country in the wake of Hamas’s Oct. 7 terror spree.
“On a practical level, we give away enormous leverage and credibility globally to hold *anyone* accountable for acts of w[a]nton violence, [because] we not merely turn a blind eye to it, we cheer it on and supply the means to do more,” Davis said in a Jan. 12 posting on X. “On a moral level this is a stain on our character as a nation, as a culture, that will not soon go away.”
He suggested Israel was pursuing a policy of “ethnic cleansing” in Gaza and compared the war-torn strip to a “prison.” In other X postings, Davis said Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu was “playing the U.S. like a cheap fiddle.”
On Iran, Davis has referred to the hardline regime as a “marginal regional power” and criticized Trump for considering a military strike on the country.
“I don’t know who Trump has hired for his advisor, who’s giving him such absurd advice, but hitting the nuclear facilities of Iran is far more dangerous and difficult than what he believes,” Davis said in Oct. 2024. “The ramifications could be terrible for us and for Israel.”
