Former Pentagon Official: Israeli Right, Bannon Allies Trying To Oust McMaster

Dov Zakheim Image by Getty Images
Recent public attacks by the far-right on National Security Adviser H. R. McMaster and his views on Israel have caught many observers by surprise, including veteran Republican defense advisor Dov Zakheim, who has spent decades at the intersection of U.S.-Israel military ties.
Zakheim, a former undersecretary of defense who is now a senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, found the attacks on McMaster’s pro-Israel credentials to be far-fetched at best. “I’ve spoken to him and I’ve heard him talk in small groups that had nothing to do with Israel, and I heard his views on the Middle East and on Iran,” Zakheim told the Forward. “His views are mainstream pro-Israel.”
McMaster has come under fire in recent days from conservatives who did not approve of his decision to fire five National Security Council staffers seen as being close to White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon. Critics have accused McMaster of not being supportive of Israel. For example, Jerusalem Post columnist Caroline Glick wrote on Wednesday that McMaster is “deeply hostile to Israel and to Trump.”
Zakheim sees this nexus between these pro-Israel forces and the anti-McMaster crowd as troubling.
“You have an unholy alliance between the Bannon supporters and the extreme pro-Israel right,” Zakheim said. He claimed that those supporters of Israel joining the American far-right in criticizing McMaster believe that “if you’re not 1000 percent committed to the extreme settler point of view, then you’re already a suspect.”
Contact Nathan Guttman at [email protected] or on Twitter @nathanguttman
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
- 1
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 2
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 3
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
- 4
Culture How two Jewish names — Kohen and Mira — are dividing red and blue states
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward ‘Another Jewish warrior’: Fine wins special election for U.S. House seat
-
Fast Forward A Chicagoan wanted to protest Elon Musk — and put a swastika sticker on a Jewish man’s Tesla
-
Fast Forward NY attorney general orders car wash to stop ripping off Jews with antisemitic ‘Passover special’
-
Fast Forward Cory Booker proclaims, ‘Hineni’ — I am here — 19 hours into anti-Trump Senate speech
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.