By Eric Levine, JNS
Radical progressive Democrats and far-right isolationist Republicans are obsessed with the notion that the U.S. approach to Iran is driven by the Jews.
Despite being one of the worst foreign-policy decisions in the history of the United States, the “wisdom” of the 2015 nuclear deal is embraced as an article of faith by Democrats. Some see the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), as genius simply because it was President Barack Obama’s idea. Others support it because they missed the day in school when their history teacher taught how the policy of appeasement led to the ravages of World War II. A third group, radical progressives, support it because they are inherently antisemitic, and they know the Iran nuclear deal undermines Israel’s security. They fundamentally believe that what’s bad for Israel is good for the world.
Once a fringe group within the Democratic Party, far-left progressives like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) are now not just the ascendant wing of the party but dominate it along with the like-minded Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). That’s because morally bankrupt leaders like Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) deluded themselves into believing that they could control the upstarts by appeasing them. The progressives now have the old guard on the run.
Republicans potentially face a similar situation. Once viewed as a fringe element within Republican ranks, the far-right isolationist wing is beginning to gain traction. Party leadership has it within its power to keep the upstart isolationist fringe on the outside looking in, but it requires a conscious effort and political courage to do so.
An overwhelming majority of Republicans oppose Obama’s abomination of an agreement. They understand that Iran is an implacable enemy of Western civilization that must be dealt with forcefully. Even so, the far-right isolationist wing in the GOP and the radical left of the Democratic Party see the “wisdom” of the Iran nuclear deal and advocate for an American retreat from the Middle East.
Both oppose attacking Iran. Neither seems to care if Iran obtains a nuclear weapon. Most critically, both are obsessed with the notion that America’s approach to Iran, which they see as unnecessarily wrongheaded and confrontational, is driven by the Jews.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) is a perfect example of a far-right isolationist Republican. When recently asked her views about an American-led military strike on Iran, she posted on X, “I represent the base, and when I’m frustrated and upset over the direction of things, you better be clear, the base is not happy. I campaigned for no more wars. And now we are supposedly on the verge of going to war against Iran. I don’t think we should be bombing foreign countries on behalf of other foreign countries, especially when they have their own nuclear weapons and massive military strength.”
Of course, any U.S. military strike against Iran would not be on behalf of Israel but because Washington felt it necessary to do so. Like her radical progressive kindred spirits, Greene must have missed the day in school when they taught about the post-war, American-led world order. She also must not have read the papers or watched the news, as Iran:
• Stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran on Nov. 4, 1979, and took 60 American hostages for 444 days;
• Murdered 241 U.S. service members (220 Marines, 18 U.S. Navy sailors, and 3 U.S. Army soldiers) by bombing the Marine barracks in Beirut on Oct. 23, 1983;
• Blew up the Khobar Tower housing complex in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, on June 25, 1996, killing 19 U.S. airmen and injuring more than 400 U.S. and international military members and civilians;
• Was responsible for one-third of the American dead and wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan;
• Tried to assassinate the Saudi ambassador to the United States in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 11, 2011;
• Tried to destabilize and overthrow the Saudi royal family;
• Directly participated in more than 100 terrorist attacks against American service members (one of whom was my son) in Syria, as they defended our homeland fighting ISIS;
• Remains the leading state sponsor of global terrorism and is responsible for terror attacks around the globe;
• Funded, armed and directed the Houthis as they attacked American merchant shipping in the Red Sea;
• Joined the new axis of evil with China, Russia and North Korea, which is dedicated to upending the American-led world order; and
• Attempted to assassinate President Donald Trump.
Exactly on whose behalf would we be attacking Iran? Where precisely do Israel and the Jews fit into these acts of war against the United States and the international community? A nuclear Iran is a threat to the entire world. For Greene, though, it is the Jews, and the Jews alone, who will lead us into disaster.
What further puts the lie to Greene’s ravings, however, is that, unlike Europe, Vietnam, Korea and other countries around the world, Israel fights its own wars. Israel has never asked for American boots on the ground in any of its wars. This includes the current war against Hamas, in which Israel is fighting for its very existence.
If anything, Israel is currently fighting our war. Its battles against Iran and its proxies—Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis—are those on behalf of Western civilization. We are morally obligated to help Israel in every way possible.
On the other hand, what should we expect from Greene (who said that Jews shooted lasers from the sky to start forest fires in California), would not support the Antisemitism Awareness Act because she believes that the Jews killed Christ? She who addressed a white supremacist Nazi rally in October 2017 with well-known fascist Nick Fuentes, at which she praised Russian President Vladimir Putin and Adolf Hitler?
This is where far-right isolationist “intellectuals” like former Fox News show host Tucker Carlson come in. Well-spoken, well-educated and well-connected, Carlson attempts to give the extreme isolationist right the ideological legitimacy it requires to be taken seriously as a political movement. Unfortunately for him, his discourse is no less detached from reality and no less antisemitic than Greene’s. Look no further than his position on an American military attack against Iran.
“Whatever you think of tariffs, it’s clear that now is the worst possible time for the United States to participate in a military strike on Iran,” Carlson said. “We can’t afford it. Thousands of Americans would die. We’d lose the war that follows. Nothing would be more destructive to our country. And yet we’re closer than ever, thanks to unrelenting pressure from neocons. This is suicidal. Anyone advocating for conflict with Iran is not an ally of the United States, but an enemy.”
The term “neocons” is code for “Jews” and Israel’s supporters. Don't take my word for it. Just ask Carlson’s fellow ideological and political traveler, convicted felon Roger Stone. When asked about Carlson’s statement, Stone answered: “I could not agree more. We cannot be suckered into a war with Iran by the Israelis.”
It should come as no surprise that Carlson would peddle in some of the most rank antisemitism. This is a man who hosts Holocaust deniers on his show, heaps praise on war criminals like Putin and regularly talks of his version of revisionist history. Putting aside the age-old trope of accusing Jews of dual loyalty, his political analysis of what would happen should America attack Iran is farcical and belied by history.
The ultimate fallacy of Carlson’s argument is that an attack on Iran will start a war. Iran has been at war with the United States since 1979. The real question is: When will we fight back?
To his credit, Trump took the initial steps against Iran in his first term. This same argument of imminent armageddon was the same nonsense given to the president during his first term to try and persuade him not to eliminate Iran’s leading terrorist, Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force Gen. Qassem Soleimani, and not to institute his policy of “maximum pressure” on the regime. Rather than mount a full-scale war with America, Tehran cowered before the United States. There was no meaningful response. Trump successfully reconstituted American deterrence and made the world a safer place.
There may well be good-faith arguments as to why the United States should not attack Iran. However, “don’t give in to the Jews” is not one of them. That is true whether the argument is made by the radical progressive left of the Democratic Party or the far-right isolationists of the Republican Party.
The major difference is that the Democratic Party has abandoned Israel, while the overwhelming majority of the Republican Party stands with the Jewish state. As Schumer has demonstrated, however, Israel’s GOP supporters should not take that for granted. We must remain vigilant.
