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analysis
The question of whether Israel lured the US into the Iran war is dividing the American right.
March 19, 2026, 7:30 p.mMarch 19, 2026, 7:30 p.m
You could actually watch the spectacle with amusement: former and current Fox News presenters engage in an argument on X that cannot be surpassed in terms of spite.
On the one hand there is Mark Levin, who occasionally likes to be called the Great One, perhaps because he is always in front of the camera in a pseudo-intellectual environment (library, fireplace). On the other hand we find ex-Fox News stars Megyn Kelly and Tucker Carlson.
Trump fan Mark Levin.Image: keystone
What is this dispute about? Levin is Jewish and enthusiastic about Trump’s war against Iran. Kelly and Carlson, on the other hand, feel betrayed. After all, the US President made a big promise during the election campaign not to start any more stupid wars, especially not in the Middle East.
On X, Levin responded to Kelly’s criticism of Trump with the following post:
“Poor Megyn Kelly. She’s a confused, lewd, and constantly irritable wreck. She dropped her mask and destroyed herself. She is everything people say she is, but much worse. She has never published an intelligent, thoughtful or substantive comment. Totally toxic.”
Kelly’s reply was immediate:
“Micro-penis Mark Levin thinks he has a monopoly on indecency. He tweets about me obsessively, in the worst possible way. He doesn’t like it when women like me talk back to him. Probably because of his micro-penis.”
Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly. Image: keystone
There are a lot of similar posts and, as I said, it would actually be fun to watch this mudslinging. But there is a very serious question at stake: Is a huge anti-Semitic front building up in the USA?
The whole thing was triggered by a thoughtless remark from Marco Rubio. The Secretary of State has given the reason why the US started the war against Iran that it did so to forestall Israel. Rubio has since qualified this statement and Trump has of course denied it, but the damage has been done. The question of whether or not Jews lured Americans into a senseless war divides the MAGA movement.
He got the ball rolling: Secretary of State Marco Rubio.Image: keystone
In addition to Kelly and Carlson, the anti-Israel page includes MAGA greats such as Marjorie Taylor Greene, Alex Jones and blogger Joe Rogan. On the pro-Israel side we meet names like Senators Ted Cruz and Lindsay Graham, Fox News commentators like Sean Hannity and Laura Ingraham or influencers Ben Shapiro and Laura Loomer.
For the opponents of Israel, the Iran War is what the Peace of Versailles was for the nationalists in Germany after the First World War: a stab in the back of sincere patriots. And because Trump is known to never make a mistake, they, like the fascists once did, blame the Jews, especially Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu and AIPAC, the influential Jewish lobbying organization in the USA.
This stab-in-the-back legend was given a huge boost by the resignation of Joe Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center. He is not a Trump hater, on the contrary: More MAGA than Kent is not possible. The former elite soldier has ties to the notorious Proud Boys and white supremacists and is convinced that Trump was cheated in the 2020 election and that the storming of the Capitol was therefore justified and carried out by patriots.
Resigned: Joe Kent, director of the National Counterterrorism Center.Image: keystone
In his resignation letter, Kent also accuses the president:
“In your first term, you understood better than any other president in modern times how to use military power without engaging us in endless wars. “In this administration, however, senior Israeli officials and influential members of the American media have employed a campaign of disinformation that is completely contrary to the goals of America First and has spread pro-war sentiments that have encouraged war against Iran.”
With this letter, Kent has suddenly become the hero of part of the MAGA base. Tucker Carlson immediately invited him for a longer interview in which he was able to explain his criticism of Trump and Israel in detail.
The stab in the back legend falls on fertile ground, especially among Generation Z. Their representatives only know about the Holocaust – if at all – through hearsay. A frightening development is emerging, especially among young Republicans: The Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, has determined that 31 percent of young right-wingers have racist views, and 25 percent even have openly anti-Semitic ones. A majority also believe that the Holocaust never happened or that it is exaggerated. Among Republicans over 50, just 4 percent share this view.
Openly anti-Semitic agitators like Nick Fuentes and his followers, known as Groypers, benefit from this. Fuentes already has imitators. In Florida, for example, a certain James Fishback is running for governor. As Michelle Goldberg reports in the New York Times, the 31-year-old has no chance of being elected, but he is very popular with Generation Z.
Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes.Image: tiktok
Fishback agrees with Fuentes’ openly fascist views. He explains: “The Jews rule society. Women should keep their mouths shut and the majority of black people should be put in prison.”
The Epstein affair is of course also grist for the anti-Semitic mill. Goldberg therefore reports that Fishback repeatedly connects the sex criminal with Israel. This is how he answers the question about Israel’s right to exist:
“Above all, I believe that American citizens have a right to exist in their own country and not have to fear being replaced or trafficked as sex slaves.”
Interim remark: If you are interested in the question of how Israel’s right to exist is discussed in the MAGA movement, I recommend a discussion that Tucker Carlson had with Mike Huckabee, the American ambassador to Israel.
How does Trump behave in the dispute over Israel’s role? As always, he tries to do justice to all sides. On the one hand, he defends Mark Levin. He said on his Truth Social platform that he was “a truly great American patriot who is being attacked by people with far less intellect.”
Conversely, however, it is Trump who repeatedly supports the anti-Semites. As Michelle Goldberg states:
“We have a president who regularly makes anti-Semitic statements, even though he is very pro-Israel. However, he also regularly spreads anti-Semitic conspiracy theories about globalists who rule the world. And he is also a part of the movement that does not shy away from making derogatory comments about other ethnicities and demonizing them.”