Pentagon colonel removed from Joint Chiefs Staff after calling Israel a ‘death cult’ and defending Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry

Department of Defense regulations prohibit service members from making public statements that imply official endorsement or contradict U.S. foreign policy.

By Jewish Breaking News

A senior U.S. Army officer has been removed from his position within the Joint Chiefs of Staff after it was discovered that he authored a series of inflammatory and anti-Israel posts on social media under a semi-anonymous account, defense officials confirmed.

Col. Nathan McCormack, who served as the Levant and Egypt branch chief in the Joint Staff’s J5 Strategic Planning Directorate since June 2024, was reassigned pending further investigation.

His posts, which included accusations against Israel and the U.S.-Israel alliance, were made under a now-deleted X (formerly Twitter) account which JBN has obtained archived copies of.

The Pentagon confirmed that McCormack’s statements “do not reflect the position of the Joint Staff or the Department of Defense.” The matter has been referred to the Army for further review, according to a defense official.

Among the posts attributed to McCormack:

He referred to Israel as a “death cult” and criticized the U.S.-Israel alliance as being overly influenced by “Judeo-supremacist cronies.”

He claimed that the U.S. had become a “proxy of Israel” and accused American officials of “prolonging the conflict” in the region for political purposes.

He wrote that “Western states go to great lengths to avoid criticism of Israel, much out of Holocaust guilt.”

He described Israeli responses to Hamas attacks as “always… disproportionately targeting Palestinian civilians.”

He alleged that Israel’s leadership was “primarily interested in annexation and the expulsion of Palestinians.”

He also suggested that the U.S. military had quietly warned Israel against further escalation with Hezbollah in Lebanon and that if they do they are “fuxked.”

In one post, McCormack defended the Gaza Health Ministry, which is controlled by Hamas, writing:

“The Gaza Health Ministry is generally considered credible by the UN, NGOs, and governments. You don’t have to like it, but it’s reality.”

That statement drew particular concern from military colleagues, given the widely reported manipulation of casualty figures by Hamas through the Health Ministry during wartime.

Responding to the idea of relocating Gaza’s population, McCormack wrote that Israel wants “to expel them and cleanse ‘Eretz Israel’ (Hebrew for Land of Israel) of ethnic Palestinians.”

A former colleague told reporters the posts were “irresponsible and dangerous,” noting they could undermine military cohesion and expose McCormack to exploitation by hostile foreign intelligence services.

McCormack’s removal underscores growing scrutiny over the use of personal social media by active-duty military personnel.

Department of Defense regulations prohibit service members from making public statements that imply official endorsement or contradict U.S. foreign policy.

The Joint Chiefs of Staff emphasized that McCormack’s views were not representative of the Pentagon or the U.S. military, and reiterated the importance of maintaining discipline and alignment with national security policy at all levels of command.

The Army is continuing its investigation to determine whether further disciplinary or administrative action is warranted.

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