Stop Blaming Netanyahu for Trump's Choices

Benjamin Netanyahu has been itching for war against Iran for decades. Only one president gave it to him.

I, like most of you, oppose the war with Iran for a multiplicity of reasons, the first of which is that it’s not in US interest to break the world economy, start a wider regional war against US assets in the Middle East, and enhance Russia’s (and China’s) global financial and geopolitical position.

Courtesy Al-Jazeera

But I lay fault for the war squarely where it belongs…in Trump’s hands. And I see a deeply anti-Semitic discourse playing out all over American society…from left to right. This says that Benjamin Netanyahu compelled the United States to join with him in a war he’s wanted for decades. And it’s true, he’s wanted this war for decades b/c Israel’s interests diverge from US interests. Iran funds and arms proxies like Hamas, Hesbollah, and the Houtis in Yemen, all of whom attack Israeli civilians. And there are more reasons based on Netanyahu’s corruption, as well as the Netanyahu regime’s interests, but that’s for a different discussion.

The anti-Semitic discourse in all of this is that Israel compelled the United States to enter a war that has embroiled the entire region, and could easily spread beyond the Middle East. This is a classic anti-Semitic trope that stems from the idea that Jews control the world systems. It’s blaming all Jews for a war that was instigated by the Netanyahu regime. But more than that, it’s assigning Jews power over the United States.

There is no universe in which Israel has more power than the United States. Let me repeat this: Israel does not have more geopolitical power than the United States. Full Stop.

Israel’s PM might be canny, or corrupt, or manipulative, or even evil. But that does not mean he has the power to dictate American foreign policy. By saying that Israel dragged the US into the war, or that the US is fighting a war at Israel’s behest, is essentially blaming all Jews for a major world-destabilizing campaign, which puts Jews all over the world at risk (as we’ve seen with lots of attacks on synagogues worldwide). I, for one, am supremely pissed at his lack of care for Israelis (both Jewish and Palestinian) and Diaspora Jews.

Israel does not have the power to compel the United States.

The Netanyahu regime might have kompromat on Trump, but then so does the rest of the world.

Israel’s attempt to go to war with Iran at the side of the US is not new. Netanyahu tried to convince Biden, Obama, and even Bush to go to war with Iran. All of them refused to pursue this policy b/c it’s not in America’s interest. Trump went with it for reasons of his own (it certainly wasn’t American national security). It might have something to do with diverting attention from the fact that he raped little children and is scooping money in by the armful. So the idea of Netanyahu engineering this war is misleading at best and anti-semitic in almost all cases.

Trump has agency. He even compels his cabinet to wear ill-fitting, uncomfortable, cheap shoes. He may be unwitting, he may be a patsy, but he is POTUS for good or ill (exclusively ill, I believe). It is far more likely that Russia had a big hand in this b/c all Russian objectives are being met….sanctions dropped, providing energy to the world b/c Mideast energy is constrained, the US in internal turmoil, continued support of Iran’s military efforts, all while using the American President to achieve these goals.

We can be utterly opposed to Netanyahu’s policies without being anti-Semitic. And many of us are…if we understand nuance and that multiple things can be true at the same time. But we also must be aware that Anti-Semites and many regular Americans who don’t pay attention to actual policy debates, conflate Israel and worldwide Jewry with impunity.

I urge everyone reading this (and please share with others who might not otherwise see it) to put this into context, as Eric K. Ward does in his writings, and in conversations like the one with Debra Shushan earlier this week.

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Even Joe Walsh discussed his nuanced view on the topic. He supports Israel, but doesn’t support the war. He supports Israel’s existence, but not the Netanyahu regime. This is true for many many of us. He put this into the context of Americans becoming so hateful that no nuance is present. But I think he missed the boat a little bit on this one. Because the issues surrounding Israel/Palestine are virtually the only issues in which those on the left and the right deal in absolutes. The details of those conversations, I’ll leave for another day.

I’m asking all of you to think very carefully about who you assign the most power and agency to in this war with Iran. Trump is the senior partner in the US/Israeli relationship, even though he’s thoroughly compromised, sociopathic, and demented. Israel has agency and will, but not enough power to compel the United States. And Iran has agency also. War isn’t solitaire. We might have started this war, but Iran gets to say when it’s over, because it just has to survive and inflict sufficient pain on it’s adversaries, rather than win decisively.

So, please, let’s not let our opposition to the Trump/MAGA Murder regime play into the hands of the Jew haters. Because every Jew the world over pays that price, regardless of their religious beliefs, their stance on Israel/Palestine, their approval or hatred of the Netanyahu regime, or even their complete disinterest in everything having to do with Israel/Palestine. Did the little kids in the Temple Israel preschool in Michigan start a war with Iran? Did the worshippers at a Netherlands synagogue, a British synagogue, or those hanging out at Bondi beach to celebrate Hanukkah make any political decisions? No they did not. And that’s why conflating all Jews and the Israeli government is so dangerous.

As Eric K. Ward says, we will not defeat this evil regime without standing together…Jews and Muslims, Christians and atheists, Black, Indigenous, Latino, LGBTQ+, and all the folks who are working to achieve a better world. So let’s pull together without letting hate get in our way. Charlotte Clymer has written about his recently as well, and I urge everyone to follow her, as well as Debra and Eric, linked above. May we work together, be the heroes of our own story, and fight for the future we want to live.