Jon Finer

Principal Deputy National Security Advisor (2021-2025)

Current: Senior Distinguished Fellow in Residence, Tsai Leadership Program at Yale Law School; Co-host, The Long Game podcast for Vox

Jon Finer, then Biden’s Deputy National Security Advisor, justified Israel’s horrific acts as “counterterrorism” and lied to the public about the progress of ceasefire talks. 

In a 2024 appearance on CNN, Finer stated that the U.S. was “putting as much pressure as we can” to facilitate a ceasefire and hostage deal––a claim revealed to be false by the then-Israeli ambassador to the U.S. Michael Herzog.

Finer also claimed to have intelligence, both from Israel and the U.S., that a Hamas military base was located below al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, days before and after Israel raided it––putting targets on the backs of medical and aid workers. 

On November 19, 2023, Finer made an appearance on Meet the Press and other programs to assert that Hamas was using al-Shifa as a “command and control facility” for Hamas “for the planning of terrorist attacks and the execution of terrorist attacks.” Finer was echoing the Israeli military, which stated publicly five days prior that it was “carrying out a precise and targeted operation against Hamas in a specified area in the Shifa Hospital, based on intelligence information and an operational necessity.”

During his interview, Finer refused to say that Israel was not following international law, merely stating that Israel “need[ed] to,” and deflecting blame to Hamas. 

Tariq Habash, who resigned from the U.S. Department of Education over the Biden administration’s role in the Gaza genocide, stated that Finer had made this claim internally as well. A Washington Post investigation later debunked the “command and control center” conspiracy theory after Israel had attacked the medical facility, and neither the U.S. nor Israel have since presented any credible evidence supporting this claim. 

Rhetoric helping to justify the attack on the hospital had deadly consequences. According to Amnesty International, during the first siege, which occurred on November 15, 2023: “650 patients were reported to be inside, alongside roughly 7,000 people displaced by Israeli bombardment. The patients included a number of premature babies, who were left without incubators.”