Americans Want Peace, Israel Wants War

America wants peace. Israel wants war. The great majority of Americans want an end to the war against Iran. The great majority in Congress just want more contributions from the Israel Lobby and its supporters.

Now, most members of Congress are really squirming. They know that most of their constituents are fed up with foreign wars and want this stupid war in Iran over, the sooner the better.

But they are afraid to criticize Israel’s war for fear of the Israel Lobby steering big campaign contributions against them. Their silence is deafening.

Most members are trying to keep quiet. Almost no one other than Mark Levin, Ben Shapiro, and the Israel First crowd are enthusiastic about this war.

The only ones speaking out strongly in favor of it are members who have received and/or who hope to receive millions in campaign contributions from the Lobby like Senators Ted Cruz, Lindsay Graham, Tom Cotton and others.

They didn’t even criticize Israel when it was starving and killing more than 20,000 children in Gaza. Congress would have rushed to pass a resolution of condemnation if it had been done in any other country than Israel.

But the killing goes on, even during so-called ceasefires. Thousands have been killed over this past year by Israeli forces in Gaza, Lebanon, and Iran.

We don’t hear and see as much about all this killing because Israel was losing the public relations battle, and pro-Israel billionaires bought up significant parts of the national media that they did not already own.  Lesser-known conservative “influencers” and podcasters were given money, and 1,000 ministers were given free trips to Israel. Even TikTok was bought because its coverage was supposedly causing too many teenagers to have anti-Israel opinions.

However, all the pro-Israel propaganda has not worked so far. Even President Trump has apparently gotten angry at times with Netanyahu, telling him at one point that he shouldn’t blow up an entire apartment building to get at one person.

And Vice President Vance told the world in a press conference that Israel’s cabinet should realize that President Trump was the only world leader still supporting  Netanyahu and that two-thirds of all the military equipment and ammunition used by the IDF in these latest wars had been paid for by U.S. taxpayers.

The very few members of Congress and commentators who are criticizing President Trump for giving into Iran in the Memorandum he signed need to be asked what their alternative is.

I mentioned in my last column that even many Jews believe the Iran War was a huge mistake. They know the Netanyahu government has gone too far.

Last year, for instance, Thomas Friedman wrote in the New York Times that “Netanyahu is not our friend.” Also last year, 36 members of the Board of Deputies of British Jews criticized what it called this “most extremist of Israeli governments.”

Their letter said: “Silence is seen as support for policies and actions that run contrary to traditional Jewish values… We stand against the war. We acknowledge and mourn the loss of Palestinian life.”

Of course, their letter was written during the war in Gaza, but as mentioned above, all this killing by the IDF in all three countries has gone on with almost no letup. Israel has been a terrorist state in the Middle East at least since October 7, 2023, and many would say off and on since the forced exodus of Palestinians in 1947-48.

Just before this war started, oil was $60 a barrel. This war has caused gas, diesel, fertilizer, food and airline tickets all to go up. Most experts have predicted that it will take months for everything to get back to as good as it was just last February.

A few days ago, the respected political analyst, Ryan Girdusky, told Clay Travis on his radio show that he had just met with a group of MAGA senators. He said they told him that the war, which has caused a big drop in Trump’s popularity, was causing Republicans to run even or behind in all the key states they need to win to keep control of the Senate and has even caused some shoo-in incumbents to have closer-than-expected races.

Unless we want to see more democratic socialist candidates win in elections all over the Country, for the sake of the Republican Party and our economy, we need to end this war. We need to start really putting America First once again.

John James Duncan Jr. is an American politician who served as the U.S. representative for Tennessee’s 2nd congressional district from 1988 to 2019. A lawyer, former judge, and former long serving member of the Army National Guard, he is a member of the Republican Party.