Who made the decision for the US to attack Iran—the American president, or a foreign country off in the shadows pulling the strings?
It’s understandable why many people think the US/ Israel war against Iran is a bad idea. Some say it violates the UN Charter. Others think it is unnecessary for the United States to do this since Iran wasn’t directly threatening the United States, or that even if Iran’s nuclear program was potentially a threat, negotiations could have achieved an equal or better outcome. Those are certainly reasonable views.
To some, the idea that this war is necessary for American self-defense seems so crazy that the only explanation they believe can possibly be true is that Israel pushed Trump into it and is somehow behind the whole thing. After all, how can bombing a country halfway around the world that doesn’t even have intercontinental ballistic missiles be necessary to protect Americans? If this war protects anyone, it is Israel, not America. And all the loss of lives and expense of this war is therefore only because Israel has somehow gotten the US to do this on its behalf.
But before jumping to conspiracy, remember who actually made the decision to send the US into this war: Donald Trump. And there’s no question that in his mind, he is one hundred percent certain that this war is necessary to defend the United States.
If that sounds impossible, consider this: Trump has spent years insisting that climate change is a hoax, that the 2020 election was stolen, and that offshore windmills drive whales crazy. And that’s just a small sample of his opinions that directly contradict scientific evidence or judicial investigation. Nothing ever seems to change his mind.
Whether one agrees with him or not, the pattern is clear— Trump frequently forms strong opinions that go against consensus and make no sense to many people. So yes, no matter how implausible it may seem to critics, it is entirely possible that he genuinely believes this war is essential to protect the United States.
Half-Baked War Plans
But what about his half-baked, not well-thought-out war plans? Could that be a clear sign that Israel is driving the whole thing, dragging the US along according to Israel’s timeline and perhaps even to meet Bibi Netanyahu’s personal and political needs? If the US was truly doing this for its own defense, wouldn’t it have been carried out in a more deliberate and carefully planned way, on its own timeline?
It is well known that Trump is rash and impulsive. He says one thing today and changes his mind the next. He’s a know-it-all who ignores expert advice and refuses to listen to anyone who dares contradict his opinions. That is the clearest explanation for any obvious flaws in the US war plans, not outside manipulation.
Of course, it’s fair to ask whether it was smart to elect someone like this to be president. If you are a US citizen, that’s something you can consider next time you find yourself at a polling place. But right now, this is the president the United States has, and so rash decisions are what it often gets.
Even Allies Have Differences
Israel may put forth somewhat different war aims than the US, select Iranian targets that the US disagrees with, and sometimes seems to want the US to take military actions it prefers not to. Isn’t this a sign that Israel is somehow in the driver’s seat, cynically manipulating the US and using the US military to achieve its own objectives?
In this war, the US and Israel are allies. And not just in a symbolic sense, such as in the Gulf War where numerous small countries contributed token forces to provide political cover. Israel has carried out thousands of air sorties, shouldering a substantial portion of the military burden. It has also been the target of a vast number of Iranian missiles as well.
Working with allies means debate and compromise. If Israel were really in control of US policy, we would expect near-total alignment. Instead, the two countries regularly disagree on tactics and strategy—exactly what you would expect from allies with shared interests, not from one controlling the other.
Flattery and Manipulation
Some say that Bibi secured Trump’s agreement via flattery or psychological manipulation. Or that Trump’s views on Iran are the product of influence by his pro-Israel advisors.
Trump is obviously vain. He listens to people who praise him, and shuts out those who don’t. Every foreign leader tries to flatter Trump in order to get him to see things their way. They come to the White House visits bearing elaborate gifts, so much so that the head of the international soccer federation even presented Trump with a made-up FIFA peace prize. Does Bibi heap praise and adulation on Trump also? Probably so. But this is not a sign that Bibi is singularly manipulative or deceptive- it’s just the way business is done in Washington at this time.
All foreign leaders try to influence Trump. For Bibi or other Israeli officials to advocate for certain policies isn’t even unusual. Lobbying a president is a far cry from controlling or manipulating the United States.
We don’t know what goes on behind the scenes between Trump and his advisors. But Trump is clearly not putty in their hands. He fires cabinet members and other officials all the time, whenever they displease him. He is famous for showing no loyalty to anyone, and casting people out whenever they cross him in the slightest way. Trump chooses the people around him because they reflect back to him what he wants to see, hear and believe.
Classic Antisemitic Tropes
Claims that Jews or Israel are somehow pulling the strings and manipulating the US into the Iran war don’t arise in a vacuum. They mirror longstanding patterns of antisemitism, in which Jews are portrayed as wielding hidden power, manipulating governments, and acting with dual loyalties. This Iran war allegation would fit right in on the pages of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, as Jews meet around an imaginary table to plot their mischievous plans for global domination and to manipulate world powers.
So there is no basis for claiming that Trump has been manipulated by Israel into fighting this war against its interests and solely for Israel’s benefit, and every reason to think he is doing it out of his genuine belief that attacking Iran was in the best interests of the United States. Accusing Israel or Jews of manipulating him into launching the war for their own purposes draws on all of the most classic tropes of traditional antisemitism.
That’s why it’s accurate, fair, and important to call this accusation not only slanderous and false, but also antisemitic. In a moment when antisemitic ideas are once again gaining traction, it matters that we call this one exactly what it is.
Shlomo Levin received Rabbinic ordination from the Israeli Chief Rabbinate and Yeshivat Hamivtar, and an M.A. in International Law and Human RIghts from the United Nations University for Peace in Costa Rica. He writes about why human rights are important, even though especially with regard to Israel human rights activists are so often wrong at https://hrhaggadah.substack.com/. He is also the author of the Human Rights Haggadah, which highlights human rights issues in the Passover story with Jewish and secular sources along and questions for discussion.