A New War Revives a Hateful Old Lie

Israel and its supporters must combat the slanderous claim, from right and left, that Jews have dragged America into a futile war

Candace Owens, Bernie Sanders and Tucker Carlson (Original source photos from Wikimedia Commons)

What do New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, antisemitic podcaster Tucker Carlson, Progressive politician Bernie Sanders, and the lunatic influencers Candace Owens and Nick Fuentes all have in common? Each has accused Israel, Netanyahu, and the Jews of dragging the United States into yet another endless and unwinnable war in the Middle East.

Not much nuance separates Friedman’s assertion that “Bibi is playing both President Trump and American Jews for fools. And if the US lets him get away with it, we are fools,” from Carlson’s claim “This is Israel’s war. This is not the United States’ war. The United States didn’t make the decision here. Benjamin Netanyahu did.” Sanders’s statement that “US cannot continue to be complicit in Netanyahu’s wars,” is virtually indistinguishable from Owens’s “Trump has betrayed America and expects you to die for Israel,” and “Trump launched a war on Zionist vibes.”

Of course, there is nothing new about the right-left alliance against Israel. The 1960s Weather Underground described Israel as “a Nazi state” and a “racist atrocity,” and Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke accused the Zionists of controlling the US government, “lock, stock, and barrel.” Nor was the claim that Jews manipulate American leaders into going to war remotely original. Henry Ford blamed the outbreak of World War I on “German Jewish bankers,” and before America entered World War II, Charles Lindbergh singled out the Jews for “pressing this country toward war.”

Ford and Lindberg’s ranting ultimately had little impact on American policy, but that is not the case for the critics of America’s wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Many of them still blame the failure of those campaigns on the neocons, a number of them Jewish, who openly pressed for war. “Virtually all neoconservatives are also deeply committed Zionists who believe that the United States should use its military power to promote Israel’s interests,” wrote Professor Stephen Walt. “It is no accident that in 1998 the neoconservatives started pushing hard for war against Iraq, not against Afghanistan or North Korea.” But while the trauma of Iraq and Afghanistan continues to plague Americans, the burgeoning charges of Jewish complicity in persuading America to attack Iran have less to do with those earlier conflicts and more with the recent war in Gaza.

Raging at a time when the memory of the Holocaust was rapidly fading and the social strictures against Jew-hatred had virtually collapsed, the war effected the final fusion between anti-Zionism and antisemitism. Demonizing Israel gave latent antisemites the language and the license they needed to hate Jews openly. The words “Israel,” “Netanyahu,” and “Jew” became sinisterly synonymous. Convinced at some not-so-subliminal level that Jews are inherently evil, many millions of people accepted the statistically impossible claim that 70% of Gaza’s casualties were women and children, and Israel has killed more than 230 reporters in Gaza. “Lust for this kind of genocide doesn’t just halt,” declared Candace Owens. “This is utterly satanic.”

The impact on American politics and public opinion has been profound. To be a Democratic candidate today increasingly means vowing never to accept a cent from AIPAC and to consider cutting off military aid to Israel. The MAGA movement, meanwhile, has fostered the rebirth of the rabidly anti-Israel Pat Buchanan branch of the GOP. For the first time, the majority of Americans support the Palestinians more than they do the Israelis. More than 50% believe that Israel committed genocide in Gaza. And for many in both parties, fearing a rise in gas prices and confused about the goals of war, the easiest way to explain the morass – much as during the Great Depression and the bubonic plague – is to blame the Jews.

Ironically, these accusations are emerging at a moment of unprecedented US-Israel strategic coordination. Far from manipulation, the partnership reflects shared threat assessments developed over multiple administrations. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth praised Israel as a “steadfast partner” that displays“unmatched skill and iron determination.” With none of America’s other allies willing to join the effort or even defend themselves against Iranian threats, and with NATO revealed as a toothless tiger, Israel is today America’s only dependable military ally.

Nevertheless, if left unanswered, and if the Iran war’s outcome proves less than ideal, the accusation that the Jews orchestrated this war would likely intensify the dangers to American Jews and jeopardize the future of the US-Israeli alliance. Israel, together with our supporters in the United States, non-Jews and Jews alike, must join in combating this slander and exposing the age-old hatreds driving it. At the same time, we must stress the nonpareil contribution Israel makes to America’s security and the paramount regard with which the US military holds the IDF.

Trump and Netanyahu conceived and coordinated Operations Epic Fury and Roaring Lion not as a result of Jewish subterfuge but as partners addressing a common intolerable threat. Six American presidents, we must recall, viewed Iran as a national threat. The one who finally decided to act did not have to be dragged.

---

This article originally appeared in the Times of Israel on March 17, 2026.