TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Colonel Nathan McCormack, who was assigned to advise the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on issues related to Israel, has been removed from his position after a series of anti-Israel posts on social media surfaced.
McCormack served as the Chief of the Levant and Egypt branch within the J5 directorate of the Joint Staff, according to his LinkedIn profile. He reportedly made several controversial tweets under a personal account, where he referred to Israel as a “death cult” and described Israeli leaders as “Netanyahu and his cronies who adhere to Jewish supremacy,” according to the Jewish News Syndicate (JNS).
A Joint Staff official told The Daily Wire that the Department of Defense (DoD) has removed McCormack from his post and referred the matter to the U.S. Army for further action. The official stressed that McCormack’s views do not reflect the position of the Joint Staff or the Pentagon.
“Our global alliances and partnerships are vital to our national security, enhancing our collective defense, deterrence, and operational reach,” the official said.
Following the JNS report, McCormack’s semi-anonymous social media account was deleted.
The J5 directorate is responsible for advising the Chairman on military strategy, planning, and policy, including key relationships with partner nations such as Israel. McCormack’s role involved helping senior leadership prepare for engagement with regional partners.
Despite operating under a personal alias, “Nate,” McCormack frequently referenced his military work and even posted a photo of his Meritorious Service Medal certificate. According to his LinkedIn, he began his J5 role in June 2024. Since then, he had tweeted extensively about Israel, particularly in the wake of the October 7 Hamas attack.
In April, he tweeted, “The Western states go to great lengths to avoid criticism of Israel, much out of Holocaust guilt.”
In May, he wrote, “Netanyahu and his Judeo-supremacist cronies are determined to prolong the conflict for their own goals: either to remain in power or to annex the land.”
Also in April, McCormack questioned U.S. foreign policy priorities, tweeting,“I have recently been considering whether we might be a representative of Israel and have not realized it.”
“Our worst ‘ally.’ We get literally nothing out of the ‘partnership’ other than the enmity of millions of people in the Middle East, Africa and Asia.”
JNS also cited a post in which McCormack reacted to reports of Gaza residents seeking refuge, claiming Israel aimed to “expel them and cleanse ‘Eretz Israel’ from Palestinian ethnicity.”
Before his role at the Joint Staff, McCormack had also voiced criticism of Israel following the October 7 Hamas attack, writing, “II agree that Israel has an absolute right to respond militarily, and that civilians may legally be caught in the crossfire, but you are ignoring the requirement of proportionality."
“Israel’s responses always (always—not hyperbole) disproportionately target Palestinian civilians..”
He also shared what appeared to be internal assessments. In August 2024, he claimed that U.S. officials had warned Israel against escalating into a conflict with Lebanon.
More recently, McCormack posted that the U.S. Department of Defense, along with the State Department and Intelligence Community, considered the casualty figures from Gaza’s Health Ministry “generally reliable,” writing:
“Along with the World Health Organization and United Nations, we (Department of Defense, Department of State and the U.S. Intelligence Community) consider the Gaza Health Ministry figures to be generally reliable (though not precise).”
“...but probably less so now than they were originally due to the general destruction and chaos in Gaza.”
The Pentagon maintains strict social media policies for service members. These guidelines warn against using official titles, uniforms, or symbols in a way that could be interpreted as a government endorsement of personal opinions.
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