Dear Friend of Israel, Friend of FLAME:

Last week, Tucker Carlson let loose his latest and most preposterous libel, claiming that Israel—in fact Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu personally—“demanded” that President Trump attack Iran. Carlson asserted that “This happened because Israel wanted it to happen. This is Israel’s war . . . not the United States’ war.”

Typical for Carlson, his fictions on the U.S.’s Iran attacks offered no factual evidence that Netanyahu pressured or persuaded Trump in any way.  No wonder that several days later the President disavowed Carlson, noting that “Tucker has lost his way” and “is really not smart enough to understand” MAGA goals.

Secretary of State Maria Rubio addressed Carlson’s claims specifically, asserting that the President’s analysis of the Iran threat was his own. According to Rubio, Trump decided “We were going to go first. He was not going to run the risk that they could attack us before we could [attack them].”

Likewise, President Trump in a subsequent press conference denied Carlson’s accusation that Israel demanded he act urgently on Iran. “It was my opinion that they [the Iranians] were going to attack first . . . If anything, I might have forced Israel’s hand. But Israel was ready, and we were ready.”

The U.S.’s bitter, bloody 47-year path led to today’s Iran War

Rubio’s and Trump’s repudiations soundly quashed Carlson’s assertion that Netanyahu was puppet master to the President, but Carlson’s larger point—that the Iran conflict “belongs” to Israel, not the United States—is equally vacuous. A short review of U.S.-Iran relations over nearly a half-century makes it clear that the U.S.  hostility to and from Iran runs far deeper than Israel’s.

Iranian Revolution (1979) destroys decades-old U.S. allyship

Prior to the Islamist revolution that overthrew the Shah of Iran, the United States had been Iran’s strongest ally. However, the revolutionaries rightly saw the U.S. as their greatest enemy and labeled America the “Great Satan.”

U.S. Embassy Hostage Crisis (1979) sets a pattern of violent hostility

In November 1979, Iranian militants seized the U.S. embassy in Tehran, taking 52 American hostages and holding them for 444 days. The U.S. froze Iranian assets, imposed major sanctions and cut diplomatic relations. A daring U.S. military attempt to rescue the hostages by President Jimmy Carter in 1980 failed embarrassingly. The hostages were finally released in January 1981 on Ronald Reagan’s inauguration day.

Infamous Beirut Marine Barracks Bombing (1983) kills 241 Americans

In October 1983, a suicide bomber supported by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) blew up the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon, killing 241 American forces. The terrorist was part of a group that later became Hezbollah, still a powerful Iranian proxy today.

Iran’s nuclear weapons development leads to ill-fated JCPOA (2018)

From the turn of the century, the U.S. and other world powers increasingly feared Iran’s belligerent actions and build-up of nuclear weapons capability. President Obama negotiated a Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) designed to limit, but not stop Iran’s nuclear weapons progress. In 2018, President Trump withdrew the U.S. from JCPOA, calling it a “bad deal,” and increased pressure on Iran to dial back its expansionism.

Assassination of Commander Qassem Soleimani (2020) skyrockets tensions

In January 2020 under President Trump, the U.S. killed Qassem Soleimani, the IRGC commander of Iran’s terrorist proxies in Lebanon, Syria and Iraq. As a result of Soleimani’s killing, Iran launched missile and militia attacks on U.S. forces.

U.S. destroys Iran nuclear assets, capping Israel’s 12-Day Iran War (2025)

Besieged by Iranian terror proxy Hamas’s October 7, 2023 massacre, and later by Hezbollah and Yemen’s Houthis, Israel retaliated alone, attacking and decimating Iran’s military and nuclear development capabilities. President Trump, during the last few days of the 12-Day War, joined Israel, ordering massive U.S. strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites.

Hostilities explode with joint U.S.-Israel attack on Iran (February 2026)

After months of failed U.S. attempts to convince Iran’s leaders to abandon their nuclear ambitions, mothball their ballistic missiles and cease funding to terror proxies, President Trump reached the end of his patience. When he gave the order to attack Iran, he asked Israel to join the effort, to which Israel quickly agreed.

History proves that Trump needed NO prodding to strike arch-enemy Iran. For decades the U.S. has chafed at Iran’s belligerence, and for years Mr. Trump himself has focused intensely on—and outright attacked—the Islamic Republic numerous times. Tucker Carlson’s claim that the world’s most self-confident politician and leader of the world’s most powerful military needed Mr. Netanyahu’s encouragement is as amateurish as it is ludicrous.

Israel and the U.S. agree unanimously: Iran is the world’s greatest threat. The reason Iran calls the U.S. and Israel “Great Satan” and “Little Satan” respectively is no mystery. The Islamic Republic realizes that no two nations oppose its jihadi imperialism and its nuclear threat with greater urgency.

Perhaps even more important, Israel’s and the United States’ respective stakes in limiting Iran’s aggression are equally high. Indeed, in the world today, no geopolitical alliance is as solidly aligned. Little surprise then, that the U.S.-Israel collaboration in the current conflict against Iran has produced what some analysts call the world’s most powerful military partnership ever.

I hope in conversations with friends, family, colleagues—and in your social media posts—you’ll explain that Tucker Carlson’s rookie theories about America’s subservient relationship to the Jewish state are baseless. His accusations have no foundation in fact, nor in historical reality. The fact is, the extraordinary U.S.-Israel collaboration over Iran has helped both nations achieve new levels of global influence.  

If you agree we need to spread this truth, please use your email browser to forward this Hotline issue to fellow lovers of Israel—and encourage them to join us by subscribing to the Hotline at no charge.

Best regards,
James Sinkinson, President
Facts and Logic About the Middle East (FLAME)

P.S.      Surely you’ve recently read of some celebrity, politician, radical student, foreign head of state or media pundit slander Israel with the “Gaza genocide” lie. Many who spread this lie are ignorant, but most are anti-Israel haters. They care nothing for the truth. The tragedy is, when they utter the Gaza genocide falsehood, too few knowledgeable people—and virtually no media—stand up to refute it. Indeed, when you share the simple facts, the genocide lie crumbles. Upon learning that Israel conducts its war against Hamas terrorists with the highest ethical standards—and that nothing Israel does in Gaza fits the definition of genocide—fair-minded people quickly see through the lie. I hope you’ll agree that we supporters of the Israel-U.S. relationship need to speak out. FLAME’s new hasbarah—explanatory message—“Facts Shatter Gaza Genocide Lies”—describes what genocide is and is not and proves factually that Israel’s tactics in the war are ethical and righteous. It also reveals demographic data showing that the Palestinian population in Gaza is actually increasing. Finally, it notes that those who spread the Gaza genocide lie fit the classic definition of antisemites. Please review this convincing, fact-based editorial, which FLAME is about to publish to millions—in leading social media, as well as in the Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Tampa Bay Times, Denver Post and Los Angeles Times. This piece will also be sent to all members of Congress, the President and Vice President. If you agree that this kind of public relations effort on Israel’s behalf is critical, I urge you to support us with a donation.