Scandal around the wedding of US embassy advisor – what happened

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee condemned Politico for publishing a story about senior embassy advisor David Milstein. The trigger was a wedding invitation with a QR code for monetary gifts, which experts considered a counterintelligence risk. Milstein corrected the error by removing the codes, and Huckabee called the article an attempt to tarnish the reputation of a specialist.

US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee sharply condemned Politico for publishing a story about senior advisor at the US embassy in Jerusalem, David Milstein. The article appeared in the Politico Playbook newsletter on September 21, Yom Kippur. The trigger was a wedding invitation sent by Milstein, who has access to top-secret information. The invitation asked guests, including Israeli citizens, to give monetary gifts in dollars or shekels via a QR code. Experts and former intelligence officers interviewed by the publication saw this as a counterintelligence risk. After the publication, Milstein contacted guests, explaining the incident as a technical error: the information was intended only for relatives and close friends. He confirmed that he is not allowed to accept gifts and removed the QR codes. Huckabee called the article a deliberate attack on a diplomatic mission employee and an attempt to tarnish the reputation of a brilliant specialist, mocking concerns about a security threat. According to him, the diplomat's friends themselves inquired about ways to congratulate him.