As the war against Iran continues, a growing domestic chorus is proclaiming that the United States has been manipulated into fighting a war more in Israel’s interests than our own.
The loudest of such voices belong to those with impeccable anti-Semitic credentials. Tucker Carlson warns that the U.S. is “tethered” to Israel, like a pet or a small child. Marjorie Taylor Greene declares that MAGA has been supplanted by “Make Israel First.” The clear leader in the lunatic wing is Candace Owens, who asserts that Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk was killed “for this war.”
Like most conspiracy theories, the manipulation myth does not withstand scrutiny. The truth is that the United States is following the course of action which it deems best for itself. One may agree or disagree with this choice, but President Donald Trump is nobody’s fool. He is certainly nobody’s puppet.
This does not mean that American and Israel’s objectives are identical in every respect. The objectives of allies at war rarely are. America has a long history of waging war alongside allies with different, sometimes conflicting, interests. One can trace that history all the way back to the Revolution, which we fought alongside our oldest ally, France. The United States fought the Revolution to establish a free and independent republic based on individual rights. The French monarchy wasn’t particularly interested in such aims. It just wanted to win back some of the possessions it had lost to the British a few years earlier in the French and Indian War (known outside North America as the Seven Years War). But the alliance worked well for both parties.
The United States and Israel vary in population, location, size, and history. It would be astonishing if their war aims did not diverge to some extent. But most of the supposed differences tend to disappear upon close examination.
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