Ilan Goldenberg

Ilan Goldenberg

Ilan Goldenberg was a former aide to President Joe Biden, later was the Jewish outreach director for Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign.

Bio

Ilan Goldenberg is the former Senior Fellow and Director of the Middle East Security Program at the Center for a New American Security. He is a foreign policy and defense expert with extensive government experience covering Iran’s nuclear program, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and the broader challenges facing the Middle East. Prior to CNAS, Mr. Goldenberg served as the Chief of Staff to the Special Envoy for Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations at the U.S. Department of State. In that position, he has played a key leadership role with the small team supporting Secretary Kerry’s initiative to conduct permanent status peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians.

From 2012 to 2013, Mr. Goldenberg served as a Senior Professional Staff Member on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee covering Middle East issues for Chairmen Kerry and Menendez. In that capacity, he acted as one of the lead drafters of the Syria Transition Support Act which provided additional authorities to arm the Syrian opposition. The bill passed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in May 2013.

From 2009 to 2012, Mr. Goldenberg served first as a Special Advisor on the Middle East and then as the Iran Team Chief in the Office of the Under-Secretary of Defense for Policy. In that position he provided advice and support to the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy and other senior DOD officials on Iranian nuclear, military, and political issues.

Prior to that, Mr. Goldenberg worked as Policy Director and was one of the founding staff members of the National Security Network – a progressive nonprofit foreign policy organization dedicated to a pragmatic and principled foreign policy. He also spent time early in his career as a financial analyst at CitiGroup Investment Banking where he covered the oil and gas industry.

Mr. Goldenberg holds a B.A. in international studies from the University of Pennsylvania, a B.S. in economics from the Wharton School of Business, and a master's degree in International Affairs from Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs.

Attempted to Oust Israeli Prime Minister

Ilan Goldenberg revealed that the Biden administration "tried to oust Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the October 7, 2023, terror attack by Hamas." From an April 25, 2025 article at Breitbart:

"Channel 13 interviewed Goldenberg, noting that while Biden administration officials had been reluctant to speak in the early days of the Trump administration for fear of retribution, they are now telling their story.

Goldenberg, who led the Biden administration’s efforts to sanction right-wing Israelis, and who later was the Jewish outreach director for Vice President Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign, told Channel 13 that the Biden White House had hoped to use Biden’s temporary popularity in Israel, and Netanyahu’s post-October 7 unpopularity, to force political change in Israel, especially after Hamas broke an early hostage release deal.

Goldenberg suggested that the Biden administration was even willing to consider non-democratic means of removing Netanyahu (emphasis added):

There were a lot of people who were talking about, including in the Oval Office, at times, the idea of, like, the president going out and giving a speech. … [Opposition leader] Benny Gantz was at 37 [seats] and Bibi was at like 15 [in polls], right? Like, he was very weak. Joe Biden was still incredibly popular in Israel.

…

You can end the war, get all the hostages out, get a, get a deal that includes even, you know, maybe even trying to have elements of Hamas to leave — or you keep doing what you’re doing, and Israel’s in a forever war, you know, your sons and daughters are going to keep fighting, most of the hostages are going to come home dead. … The idea would be to either force Netanyahu to come on board with that, or scramble Israeli politics, and see if you can trigger elections, or God knows what. That’s what people were saying — like, let’s just break this up ’cause it’s not going anywhere good.

Goldenberg’s claims corroborate the historical record. In March last year, President Biden endorsed a bizarre call by then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for Israelis to oust Netanyahu in new elections.

But Netanyahu’s popularity recovered in Israel as he defied Biden and launched an offensive into Rafah, a town on Gaza’s border with Egypt, rescuing hostages and ultimately killing Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

There was no point at which the Biden administration had sufficient commitments from Hamas to know whether the deal Goldenbergg describes would actually have taken place; Hamas refused almost every deal, and it never committed to releasing all of the Israeli hostages.

'Longstanding Ties' to J Street

Excerpt from an article titled "Who Is Ilan Goldenberg, Kamala Harris’s New Liaison to the Jews?" published at the Washington Free Beacon on August 13, 2024 by journalist Adam Kredo:

"...Goldenberg has longstanding ties to the anti-Israel group J Street and served as a foreign policy adviser to Elizabeth Warren’s failed 2020 presidential bid. Throughout his professional career, both in and out of government, he has served as a public defender of the Democratic party’s criticisms of Israel, a critic of the GOP’s efforts to strengthen ties with the Jewish state, and a proponent of deepening diplomatic relations with Iran."

J Street National Ceasefire Action Briefing

J Street National Ceasefire Action Briefing

On May 19, 2021, J Street held a "National Ceasefire Action Briefing...on our shared campaign to push the Biden administration to prioritize an immediate ceasefire and address the occupation."

Summary of Discussion Provided by Grok

The J Street discussion, hosted by President Jeremy Ben-Ami in Washington, DC, with Shira Efron, Sally Abed, and Ilan Goldenberg, examines the May 2021 Israeli-Palestinian violence in Gaza, Israel, and the West Bank. J Street calls for a U.S.-led ceasefire, a special envoy, reversal of Trump-era policies like reopening the East Jerusalem consulate, aid for Gaza, and addressing claims of occupation. Shira Efron describes Gaza’s humanitarian crisis—213 deaths, 72,000 displaced, and damaged infrastructure—alleging violence involving "right-wing" groups in Israel and advocating for Gaza reconstruction and Palestinian Authority support. Sally Abed of Standing Together highlights Jewish-Arab grassroots efforts to ease tensions and promote shared goals, despite reported attacks on Arab citizens.

Ilan Goldenberg notes the Biden administration’s private diplomacy to avoid strengthening Benjamin Netanyahu’s domestic standing, with Egypt mediating the Hamas-Israel conflict. He suggests reopening the consulate, appointing an envoy, increasing Gaza aid, and supporting Palestinian elections to address disputes over claims of annexation and occupation. J Street endorses a two-state solution over a single-state outcome, urging U.S. involvement and support for groups like Standing Together to resolve the conflict, driven by Jerusalem tensions and differing views on territorial control.

Special guests:

• Ilan Goldberg, Center for a New American Security
• Sally Abed, Standing Together
• Shira Efron, Institute for National Strategic Studies
• Moderated by Jeremy Ben-Ami

NIAC Leadership conference

National Iranian American Council September 23, 2016

We're ready for you! Looking forward to an amazing Leadership Conference this weekend in Washington, D.C. - you can get your last minute tickets here: leadership.niacouncil.org

1. NIAC2016 #CreatingAMorePerfectUnion — with Mehdi Hasan, Ben Rhodes, Joe Cirincione, Tyler Cullis, Rula Jebreal, Trita Parsi, Sanam Anderlini, Suzanne DiMaggio, Maz Jobrani, Tara Kamangar, Celinda Lake, Farideh Farhi, Cyrus Habib, Negin Farsad, Congressman Jared Huffman, Mana Kharrazi, Yahya Alkhansa, Ilan Goldenberg, Congressman Dan Kildee, James Dobbins, Philip Gordon and Office of Foreign Assets Control.

JournoList

Ilan Goldenberg, of the National Security Network , was an identified member of JournoList - an email group of approximately 400 "progressive" and socialist journalists, academics and "new media" activists.

JournoList members reportedly coordinated their messages in favor of Barack Obama and the Democrats, and against Sarah Palin and the Republican Party. JournoList was founded in 2007 and was closed down in early 2010.