America’s divisions over Iran war center on Trump, Israel

Americans are divided over the war in Iran with the Middle East conflict serving as a Rorschach test regarding views of President Donald Trump as well as the U.S. alliance with Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Trump launched the war Saturday with Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other leaders of the Islamist regime killed in the the conflict’s first salvos.

That’s sparked accolades from Republicans, supportive of Trump.

"The Iranian regime is the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism. Hezbollah. Hamas. The Houthis.They chant 'death to America' They call us the 'big Satan' and Israel the 'little Satan.' This regime posed a clear, imminent threat," said U.S. Sen. Steve Daines, D-Montana.

Democrats and other Trump opponents argue the war is illegal because the U.S. president did not get approval from Congress. They want a congressional War Power Act vote on the war. Many of the U.S. president's critics have a reflexive opposition to his moves.

Some of those Trump foes also oppose America’s alignment with Israel, and more specifically Trump's partnership with Netanyahu.

WAR FOOTING

A new poll on the war released by Fox News on March 4 shows 50% of American voters approve of Trump’ war attacks on Iran while 50% opposed.

The Fox poll shows 84% of Republicans back Trump’s combat actions against Iran, while 80% of Democrats oppose the war. Sixty percent of Independent voters oppose U.S. military action, according to the 1,004-voter survey

Beyond the political dividing lines over Trump, the Iran war also exposes divisions and fault lines on both Democratic/progressive left and Trump’s MAGA (Make America Great Again) populist right when it comes to U.S. support for Israel and Netanyahu.

Critics of Trump, U.S. support for Israel and now the war seized on comments by Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday that Trump ordered the strike after Israel indicated it was going to hit Iran.

“It was abundantly clear that if Iran came under attack by anyone – the United States or Israel or anyone – they were going to respond, and respond against the United States,” Rubio said Monday.

“We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if we didn’t preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties," Rubio said.

Rubio and Trump have since sought to change that narrative.

“If anything, I might have forced Israel's hand. But Israel was ready and we were ready and we have had a very, very powerful impact because virtually everything they have has been knocked out now,” Trump said Tuesday.

The U.S. president did say he worried Iran was going to attack Israel and other countries in the region.

“If we didn’t do it to Iran, they would have done it to Israel, and give us a shot if that was possible,” Trump said Wednesday.

'ON A LEASH'

The progressive wing of the Democratic Party has already moved away from longstanding U.S. support for Israel over Netanyahu’s conduct of the war n Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attacks. They criticize Israel over civilian casualties in Gaza and blockades of the Hamas-controlled territory during the Holy Land war.

A number of leading progressives are arguing Trump went to war with Iran at the behest of Israel and Netanyahu.

“We are the little pet puppy with Netanyahu walking us around on a leash.” U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Oregon, told MSNow.

Merkley previously pushed against U.S. weapons and munitions support for Israel during the war in Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attacks.

He wants a war powers vote in Congress on Trump’s Iran attacks. “Are we still a Republic,” Merkley said, pushing against Trump’s executive penchants.

He’s not alone on the Democratic left.

“There is real concern about who is really controlling America’s foreign policy, Is it President Trump or its Prime Minister Netanyahu,” U.S. Sen. Jean Shaheen, D-New Hampshire, said in an interview,

Shaheen did note the death of the Ayatollah “is a good thing,” citing Iran’s support of militant groups and the regime’s oppression of its own people.

Public opinion polls have shown eroding support for Israel among progressives and Democrats in the wake of the war in Gaza.

A recent survey by the Gallup Organization found 65% of Democrats say their sympathies in the Middle East are with the Palestinians versus 17% who favor Israel.

Independents, now favor the Palestinians over Israel 41% to 30%.

RIGHTEOUS CAUSE

Support for the Iran war and Trump’s alliance with Israel (where he is very popular) is more solid with Republicans.

The Gallup poll found 70% of Republicans side with Israel versus 13% for the Palestinians in the longstanding Holy Land conflict.

U.S. Sen. Tim Sheehy, R-Montana, has called the Iran war a “righteous action” and hailed Trump for “putting an end to Iran’s 47-year reign of terror spent murdering and maiming Americans all over the globe.”

The war has seen U.S. and Israeli missile strikes aim at Iran’s navy, air force and leadership. The Islamic Republic has aimed at U.S. military bases’ communications systems in the Middle East as well as cities in Israel and Persian Gulf states friendly toward Trump and the U.S. The big challenge for Iran is whether their missile and drone supplies will run dry, while the U.S. and Israel need to navigate how to bring about regime change.

U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, said he spoke to Netanyahu on Wednesday and touted the war alliance.

“Israel is a small country with a giant heart and an unshakeable determination to survive and thrive. Those who wish to destroy Israel also wish to destroy America. The Prime Minister reinforced that on today’s call. The Iranian regime chants ‘death to America’ and they mean it,” Graham said.

Evangelical Christians — a key constituency for Trump and a strong backer of Israel — are also supportive of the war.

“For two decades we have said that the regime in Iran must go at the hands of its people with the aid and support of the free world; today those who stand at the vanguard of freedom are giving the Iranian people the means to take their country back,” said Christians United for Israel founder and Chairman Pastor John Hagee.

The Evangelical group touts 10 million members and works with churches on pro-Israel messaging, citing biblical passages to support the Israeli people.

“There are only two sides in the conflict with the regime in Tehran, you’re either with the Mullahs or the people; the United States and Israel are on the right side of making history,” said CUFI Action Fund Chairwoman Sandra Hagee Parker.

She faulted critics of the U.S., Israel war alliance as “isolationists and capitulationists.”

There is an intersection of conservative Christians and Israelis who see the fight with Iran and its proxies such as Hamas (which ignited the Gaza war after the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks) and Hezbollah as a spiritual battle.

“There is evil in this world. Pure evil. That targets, innocent people — and hates God‘s children who sanctify life,” said Yael Eckstein, president and CEO of the International Fellowship of Christians Jews, a charitiable group. "But we know who wins. Light always outshine the darkness. Good always outlives the bad.”

ISRAEL FIRST?

Most of the skepticism towards and criticism of the war from the right is coming from populist commentators and advocates such as Candace Owens, and Tucker Carlson, some of whom have soured on Trump and U.S. military support for Israel, which has totaled $21.7 billion the Gaza war started in 2023.

“The administration admits Israel dragged us into the war that’s already cost too many American lives and billions of dollars. Before it’s over, the price of gas, groceries, and virtually everything else is going to go up. The only winners in the U.S. are defense company shareholders,” said U.S. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky.

Marjorie Taylor Greene, a former conservative Georgia congresswoman who has become a critic of Trump, said in a statement that “followers of Christ are not supposed to start wars, intentionally and unprovoked” and that the U.S. administration “is waging war on Iran for Israel.”

Massie said the U.S. has spent $8 trillion on the Middle East since the 9/11 attacks, citing data from Brown University. "Picture how great our country could be if we’d spent that money here,” Massie said in a statement. “Imagine how affordable groceries and housing would be if we hadn’t printed all that money.”

Taylor Greene agrees, pointing to affordability challenges facing many American households, especially among the working class.

“We need to have a serious conversation about what the f– is happening to this country, “ she said.

“72% of Americans can’t afford health insurance.58% of Americans can’t afford car insurance. 67% of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. 31% of Americans can’t afford their back taxes.50% of Americans are in credit card debt,” Taylor Greene said. “Most Americans are completely against this war. Make America Great Again was supposed to be America first, not Israel first.”

'ELIMINATE THE REGIME'

Some of the criticisms of Israel and U.S. support for the Jewish state since the Gaza war have bordered or bled into antisemitism, according to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL)

“The operation against the Iranian regime triggered an immediate surge of antisemitic content online, with extremists, anti-war voices and anti-Israel groups converging around shared false narratives and conspiracy theories — from 'ZOG' and dual loyalty tropes to 9/11 revisionism and the Epstein files,:  the ADL said in a statement, referring to theories about Israel’s influence in the U.S. and whether the war is a distraction from Jefrrey Epstein.

But not all Trump critics are against the war and its aims.

John Bolton, who served as Trump’s national security advisor during first term and has since become a critic of the U.S. president and was arrested by the FBI last year over his handling of classified documents, backs regime change in Tehran.

“Trump wants to eliminate Iran's nuclear weapons program, destroy its ballistic missile program, and hopefully eliminate its support for terrorism. The only way one can achieve those legitimate objectives is to eliminate the regime,” Bolton said.

And, not all Democrats are opposed to the war.

“President Trump has been willing to do what’s right and necessary to produce real peace in the region,” said U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pennsylvania. “God bless the United States, our great military, and Israel.”