'Israel Controls the US' Narrative Just Blew Up, but It Won't Matter to the Trolls

AP Photo/Alex Brandon

For years, we have suffered through countless accusations that Israel controls the United States, that Israel physically threatens US lawmakers, that a Jewish cabal has dirt on American politicians, and that, most insanely, Israel is taking over the US military. 

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Now that Trump has ordered Israel to stand down in Lebanon and not retaliate against Iran if they attack, can we at least dispense with the absurdity that Israel is the mastermind behind every US policy?

The argument that our conflict with Iran was wholly driven by Israel's leadership was always absurd. It rested on the ridiculous contention that Iran poses no threat to the US, hasn't been repeating "Death to America" for nearly 50 years, didn't commit countless terrorist attacks on American troops, and hasn't funded terrorist organizations like Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis.

From its inception, the Islamic Republic of Iran has been crystal clear about its determination to destroy America, and while it was too weak to attack us outright, it certainly used its asymmetric warfare capabilities to damage us and our military. It has funded terrorist attacks around the world, and as the war in the Gulf showed, its missile capabilities have advanced dramatically over the years and are already capable of hitting Europe. 

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Told  @AFP  that:

A. the US-Iran deal amounts to nothing less than a political and security catastrophe for the State of Israel

B. Beyond leaving the nuclear question unresolved, the result of the conflict makes it unlikely that any future US president would risk renewed military action against Iran.

C. At the end of the day, Iran is becoming stronger, and Israel has no ability to influence the US president's decisions.

D. It's a very, very, very bad development for Israel, and for Netanyahu specifically, who was, "Mr. Iran," given Netanyahu's long history of antagonism with the Islamic republic.

E. "Mr Iran" is stuck with a deal that covers almost none of the issues that are important to Israel.

Throughout the negotiations, Trump has been putting enormous pressure on Israel, and in the past few days, Trump has made it clear that he sees our interests as substantially different than Israel's, despite the close cooperation during the war on Iran. 

The relationship is transactional. It's not that the relationship isn't close—it has been and likely will remain quite close—but that doesn't mean that the US is subordinate to Israel. When our interests diverge dramatically, in the administration's eyes, US interests will dominate. 

I happen to think that our interests in defeating Iran decisively are more closely aligned than the current administration seems to think, if reports are correct, but that is not the point here. Whether Trump is right or wrong about divergent interests, it's clear that his decisions were not predicated on Israeli approval. If they were, the original "ceasefire" would not have happened, and certainly this MOU wouldn't have. 

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Nobody seriously believes that Israel is happy with a ceasefire in Lebanon, hamstringing its ability to fight Hezbollah. It's pretty clear that top Lebanese officials aren't so pleased with it either, since they are trying to disarm Hezbollah, have recently banned the IRGC in their country, and are quite angry that Iran is essentially asserting sovereignty over their country. 

The talking point that the Jews or Israel controls the US is a convenient talking point for the anti-Israel crowd. Those same people are temporarily applauding Trump's Iran sorta-kinda deal, but they will be back at it the moment Trump helps Israel in some other manner. 

It's so tiresome. 

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