Christians and Jews United for Israel | June 23, 2025
On Sunday night, as Americans watched breaking news of U.S. military strikes against Iran’s nuclear facilities, a disturbing narrative quietly took root in the media. Some commentators, particularly Rick Stengel on MSNBC, used the moment not to analyze Iranian aggression or celebrate American resolve—but to paint Israel, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as shadow puppeteers behind the scenes of U.S. foreign policy.
Let’s be clear: these talking points are not just inaccurate. They are dangerous.
Throughout four separate segments, Stengel repeatedly framed Netanyahu as the true author of American decisions, reducing President Trump to a pawn and Israel to a manipulator. According to Stengel, Netanyahu isn’t just an ally advocating for his nation’s survival—he’s supposedly “functioning as our Director of National Intelligence” and “masterminding American foreign policy.”
This is more than commentary. It’s a baseless accusation of foreign influence, designed to discredit both Netanyahu and the strategic U.S.-Israel alliance.
Let’s take a step back.
Iran has spent decades funding terrorism, threatening its neighbors, advancing a clandestine nuclear program, and inciting war against Israel and the West. The recent U.S. airstrikes—codenamed Midnight Hammer—were a response to a rapidly escalating threat. They were not a gift to Netanyahu, nor were they engineered by him. They were a national security decision made by the United States in defense of global stability.
Stengel’s remarks echo a long-standing, corrosive trope: that Jews—particularly Israelis—exert disproportionate and secretive control over U.S. policy. That sentiment has a name, and it has no place in civil discourse.
Even more troubling was the broader tone of the coverage. Another guest described Israel’s strike on Iran not as a preemptive act of self-defense, but as an “opening salvo” in an alleged campaign to hijack American diplomacy and provoke regime change. General Wesley Clark referenced decades-old conspiracy theories about neoconservative plots, conveniently ignoring that Iran’s regime is the one openly threatening genocide—not Israel.
Do these commentators understand the region they’re talking about?
Israel doesn’t gain from war. It suffers from it. Every decision Israel makes in this arena comes from necessity, not opportunism. As Evelyn Farkas rightly noted on the same panel, the objectives from both the U.S. and Israel must be clear: prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. That is not Netanyahu’s objective alone—it is the official bipartisan policy of the United States.
CJUI stands firmly behind the right of the United States and Israel to defend themselves. We reject the casual scapegoating of Israel’s elected leadership and the minimization of Iranian threats. We call on journalists and public figures to avoid fueling age-old suspicions and instead focus on the real danger: an aggressive, extremist regime in Tehran, emboldened by Western confusion and inaction.
America and Israel are allies—not because of personality, but because of principle. Let’s not lose sight of that in the fog of war—or the fog of television punditry.