Don't be fooled: This war is not US versus Iran, it's Israel against America

Don't be fooled: This war is not US versus Iran, it's Israel against America Hamid Dabashi on Mon, 04/06/2026 - 21:46 While most Americans oppose this war, the overwhelming majority of Israelis support it. At its core, this is an Israeli war - not an 'Israeli-American' one Protesters denounce US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu near the Iranian embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, on 16 January 2026 (Ahmad al-Rubaye/AFP) On I would like to make what might initially appear as a counterintuitive suggestion. What the world is witnessing today is not an “Israeli-US” war on Iran, as Zionist propaganda has termed it in an effort to silence widespread American and global opposition to this conflict. This is an Israeli war on both Iran and the US together. The US, by which I mean the overwhelming majority of Americans opposing this war, is the home front of this Israeli assault. Israel and its fifth-column agents in the US think they can sell this war to the world as an “Israeli-American” alliance against Iran. They cannot. Beware and monitor how the New York Times and its ilk are misleading Americans by focusing antiwar criticisms on US President Donald Trump, rather than on the real culprits: Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. They started this war - not Trump, and certainly not Americans. Israel duped Trump into joining it. By shielding Israel and decoupling it from Trump’s daily shenanigans, American media outlets are deceiving the public, encouraging them to focus their anger at their unhinged president rather than at the genocidal Zionists who started this war. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); This is a war that Israel is waging against both Iran and the overwhelming majority of Americans who oppose it. Most Americans want their country liberated from the chokehold of Israel, the settler colony they finance at the high cost of their own wellbeing. More than two decades ago, in The Anarchy of Empire in the Making of U.S. Culture, the late Amy Kaplan diagnosed how domestic issues and foreign affairs are deeply intertwined. The notion of any wall between them is delusional. At this very moment, Israel’s war against American public opinion - its desperate urge to silence dissent against this abusive relationship - is no less pernicious than its bombing of Iranian civilians, civil infrastructure, oil refineries, gas reserves and world-renowned cultural heritage sites. Proxy force The Israeli war on Iran is coterminous with the war by pro-Israel lobbying groups against seismic changes in American politics, amid a radical pivot away from genocidal Zionism. Netanyahu has been dreaming about this war for decades, and he finally succeeded in triggering Trump to join the attack on Iran, manipulating the gullible bully in the Oval Office into taking action. Trump is now clearly desperate to find a way out of this folly, but he is too stupid and arrogant to admit he does not know how. (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({}); Consider the massive nationwide protests against Trump under the label “No Kings”. Demonstrators have taken aim at Israeli-trained US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, and at the Iran war that their president was hoodwinked into joining. Israel’s war against American public opinion is no less pernicious than its bombing of Iranian civilians, infrastructure, oil refineries and heritage sites By doing Israel’s bidding, Trump has effectively turned the US army into a proxy force; a private army of the cowardly settler colony, as the tail wags the dog. In their millions, Americans are revolting against this historical bondage. They want their country back. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a possible future Democratic presidential candidate, recently said she would oppose all military aid - even defensive - to Israel. This trend extends into the Maga movement of the Republican Party; just listen to popular and outspoken commentators like Tucker Carlson, Nick Fuentes and Candace Owens. As Israeli and American bombers target Iranian schools, hospitals, factories, bridges, cultural heritage sites and other infrastructure of a sovereign nation, they are only fuelling the growing rebellion of millions of Americans. So why is Israel waging this war against Iran? The answers are simple and self-evident: firstly, it wants to distract attention from its genocide in Gaza, land grabs in the occupied West Bank, and war crimes in Lebanon. Israel is relentlessly attacking multiple nations, while passing legislation to legalise the murder of even more Palestinians. But above all, these vicious wars against Palestinians, Lebanese, Syrians and Iranians - and indeed against the region as a whole - are part of its hallucinatory designs for “Greater Israel”. Damage control Israel’s apologists in the US are panicking. They do not know how to do damage control anymore. The truth is out: the war on Iran was an Israeli plot, and the egomaniac Trump was duped into joining. While most Americans oppose this war, the overwhelming majority of Israelis support it. At its core, this is an Israeli war - not an “Israeli-American” one. Trump and his Zionist handlers - led by Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy - have waged a war on dissident voices, aiming to censor and silence the widespread antiwar movement in the US. By serving Israel's agenda, Trump betrayed Gulf allies Read More » Yet still, millions of Americans - left, right and centre - oppose the war. They are fed up with sending their sons and daughters out to fight for Israel, despite the ongoing propaganda efforts led by Fox News and the New York Times. The Israeli war on Iran, like the other wars it has launched across the region, is part and parcel of its broader war on Americans critical of their corrupt politicians, from Trump, to Senator Lindsey Graham, to Ambassador Mike Huckabee and beyond. Israel has lost an entire generation of principled and determined Americans. The media outlets and lobby groups that continue to defend Israel will join it in the dustbin of history. They thought they could throw the heinous slander of “antisemitism” at innocent students and protesters critical of Israel, and thereby silence the moral chorus of dissent. But this generation of Americans will never be fooled again, no matter how loudly Bari Weiss protests from her new position as the head of CBS News. Israel is losing both of these wars. Yes, Netanyahu managed to manipulate a superpower into joining the war and mass murdering Iranian children, on the model of the Gaza genocide, confirming that the entire Zionist project is a signature act of European savagery - but Iran is still standing tall and proud, admired around the globe for its steadfast resistance and resilience. Israel has also lost on the American front, as poll after poll, and protest after protest, show that Americans detest Israel for what it has done to their country. Political candidates are today fleeing any association with Israel like they would a plague. With the 250th anniversary of US independence fast approaching, Americans this summer will be celebrating their liberation not just from the British Empire, but also from Israel, a British colonial concoction in the heart of Palestine. The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Eye. War on Iran Opinion Post Date Override 0 Update Date Mon, 05/04/2020 - 21:29 Update Date Override 0