Brett McGurk, President Joe Biden’s top Middle East adviser, said the administration was close to imposing what he called “pretty draconian measures against Israel” after an Israeli military drone strike killed seven World Central Kitchen aid workers in the Gaza Strip in April 2024. Cutting off US weapons to Israel “was very much on the table”, McGurk said.
McGurk said Biden was “fed up” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the war in Gaza. In his book, “Brink”, McGurk describes a tense exchange in which Biden threatened to end the weapons supply to Israel.
Before the administration acted, however, a US intelligence briefing warned that Iran was preparing an “unprecedented” aerial attack on Israel. The planned assault comprised 120 ballistic missiles, 170 drones and 30 cruise missiles, which were “all launched to land at the same time.”
“At that moment, if not for that impending missile attack, which we then had to deploy military forces … I think we would have taken some pretty draconian measures against Israel,” McGurk said.
He made the remarks during an appearance on CBS News’ “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on 4 October 2026, where he discussed negotiations between Israel and Hamas. McGurk served as a Middle East adviser to four American presidents, and his book “Brink” was releasing on Tuesday following the interview.
McGurk also recounted the earlier effort to establish relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia. About three days into the Biden administration, Biden asked him to meet the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia about significant changes in Saudi policy, including cutting off various weapons systems.
At that meeting, the Crown Prince raised the prospect of recognising Israel. McGurk said he did not grasp the proposal until about a year and a half into the administration, a delay he called “lost time and unfortunate.”
Once the administration took up the proposal, McGurk said it made real progress in negotiations involving the Palestinian Authority. The prospective Saudi-Israel agreement was intended to create a pathway for the Palestinians and give Saudi Arabia a civilian nuclear deal.
On 6 October 2023, McGurk had a Saudi delegation, including Princess Reema Bandar, in his office while preparing for Tony Blinken to travel to the Middle East. Princess Reema and McGurk shook hands on elements of a deal to normalise relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia and create a pathway for the Palestinians.
An attack occurred in Israel within hours of that agreement.
McGurk’s account places the April 2024 debate in the same sequence of competing demands on the administration: pressure on Israel over the Gaza war, an effort to advance Saudi-Israeli normalisation, and the immediate requirement to deploy US military forces in response to the anticipated Iranian attack.
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