What Kent is trying to accomplish in his letter is classic anti-Semitism, portraying Israel as a singular malevolent and manipulative force in the world, and\u2014by baselessly asserting \u201cthe Israelis\u201d drew America into the Iraq War 23 years ago\u2014not just in this moment in time.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Peter Baker, in the book Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, chronicles how, on his own volition, President George W. Bush was preoccupied with Iraq. As a candidate, Bush reflected on his father\u2019s short war with Iraq and its dictator, Saddam Hussein, concluding, \u201cNo one envisioned him still standing. It\u2019s time to finish the task.\u201d<\/a> In his second week in office, Bush directed Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to review military options. Then, two weeks after the September 11 Al Qaeda terrorist attacks, without any evidence of Iraqi involvement, Bush privately told Rumsfeld, \u201cI want you to develop a plan to invade Iraq.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Discussion of Israeli involvement in today\u2019s Operation Epic Fury is unavoidable, as it\u2019s an overtly joint U.S.-Israeli operation. To be a critic of the war is to criticize the actions of both governments. And those who want to cast the war as orchestrated by Israel have been given plenty of fodder.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n The New York Times<\/a> reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lobbied Trump since December and \u201cpushed the president to strike a decisive blow against Iran\u2019s theocratic government,\u201d as well as characterized Trump\u2019s decision as \u201ca victory for Mr. Netanyahu.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Secretary of State Marco Rubio, in remarks to reporters on March 2,<\/a> went further. Asking himself the question, \u201cWhy now?\u201d he answered: \u201cWe knew that there was going to be an Israeli action, we knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if we didn\u2019t preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties and perhaps even higher those killed, and then we would all be here answering questions about why we knew that and didn\u2019t act.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Rubio explicitly claimed Israel\u2019s decision to strike forced America\u2019s hand, giving anti-Semitic conspiracy theorists a quote they will dine out on forever. Yet in his attempt to give the veneer of an imminent threat justifying Trump\u2019s itchy trigger finger, Rubio offered circular logic that does not loop in Netanyahu\u2019s lobbying campaign. The Times reported that in December, Netanyahu traveled to Mar-a-Lago and \u201casked for the president\u2019s approval for Israel to hit Iran\u2019s missile sites in the coming months,\u201d not that Netanyahu was determined to strike without Trump\u2019s agreement. And in January, as Trump was issuing threats to Iran on social media, it was Netanyahu asking Trump to wait until his military was better positioned. Trump agreed and moved American military assets into place.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Trump did agree to diplomatic talks with Iran that began on February 6. Five days later, according to the Times, Netanyahu went to the Oval Office because he \u201cwanted to make sure that the new diplomatic effort did not undermine the plans.\u201d But we have little reason to believe he had much to worry about.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n On February 13, Trump expressed deep skepticism<\/a> that the talks would bear fruit because \u201cFor 47 years, they\u2019ve been talking and talking and talking.\u201d Asked by a reporter if he wanted \u201cregime change,\u201d Trump replied, \u201cIt seems like that would be the best thing that could happen.\u201d Asked what in Iran\u2019s nuclear program a military strike would \u201cgo after,\u201d considering Trump deemed it \u201cobliterated\u201d after Operation Midnight Hammer, Trump ominously hinted, \u201cIf we do it, that would be the least of the mission.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n If diplomacy were to get in the way, the breakthrough announced by Omani Foreign Minister Badr bin Hamad Al Busaidi, who was mediating the talks, would have done the trick. On February 27, Al Busaidi told CBS News<\/a> that \u201ca peace deal is within our reach\u201d in part because Iran agreed to \u201czero accumulation, zero stockpiling\u201d of enriched uranium. If Trump was bargaining in good faith\u2014if Netanyahu had reason to worry\u2014he would have at least continued talks and further explored the offer.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Yet on that very same day, according to Reuters,<\/a> Trump gave the green light for Operation Epic Fury. In fact, by that point, \u201cTrump already had approved the idea of the United States carrying out a military operation against Iran,\u201d even though he \u201chad not yet decided when or under what circumstances.\u201d It might have begun sooner, but an earlier planned date was \u201cscuttled because of bad weather.\u201d The final timing was prompted by a call to Trump from Netanyahu, \u201cless than 48 hours\u201d before the attack began, discussing an intelligence determination that Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, having made a deliberately fatalistic decision not to hide in bunkers<\/a>, would be hosting at his Tehran compound in broad daylight on the morning of February 28. (Tehran time is seven-and-a-half hours ahead of Washington, D.C.) Still, Reuters reported that the evidence \u201cdoes not suggest that Netanyahu forced Trump to go to war,\u201d only \u201cthat the Israeli leader was an effective advocate.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Does Netanyahu deserve harsh criticism for militant expansionism, collective punishment, and destruction of the Israel-Palestine peace process? Absolutely. Does he own his share of responsibility for the war of choice on Iran and its consequences? Absolutely. But Netanyahu holds no leverage over Trump and did not rob Trump of agency. He needs Trump, not the other way around.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Talking cavalierly about the Israeli government secretly manipulating the United States puts the Jewish diaspora at risk, similar to how Trump\u2019s references to the \u201cChina Virus\u201d during the COVID-19 pandemic contributed<\/a> to a spike in anti-Asian hate crimes<\/a>, and Islamophobic sentiment fanned by leading conservatives after 9\/11<\/a> did the same regarding anti-Muslim hate crimes<\/a>. Just this month, we have witnessed anti-Semitic attacks in London, Toronto, and suburban Detroit<\/a>. The need for precision in our political rhetoric is urgent.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Kent, who has longstanding ties to white nationalists and neo-Nazis<\/a>, is not interested in precision. After resigning, he ran to far-right figures Tucker Carlson<\/a> and Megyn Kelly<\/a> to spread a ludicrous conspiracy theory that the Israeli government may have assassinated Charlie Kirk, and he wasn\u2019t able to thoroughly investigate it. This is someone trying to spread anti-Semitic tropes in his resignation letter and his subsequent remarks. The rest of us need not extol his letter as a noble protest or echo his libel that the Israeli tail is wagging the Trump dog.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n I believe the Trump-Netanyahu war on Iran is egregious<\/a>, and I fear<\/a> the horrible<\/a> precedents it could set. But Trump chose to launch it. As he did before, he could have either stopped Netanyahu from proceeding or, at the very minimum, limited the scope of any Israeli operations simply by not joining forces. To insinuate otherwise is to portray Jews as conniving manipulators with supreme geopolitical influence. As with most conspiracy theories, actions attributed to shadowy forces turn out to be the result of individual acts of hubris, stupidity, or both.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n
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