When the details of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the U.S. and Iran were first leaked, Israel’s most prominent defenders in the West began voicing their concerns, incoherent as they often were. With the eventual announcement of the MoU, they could no longer conceal their profound disappointment. Public criticism soon followed, at times escalating into outright insults. It has been a truly desperate spectacle, and little more is needed to further expose where their priorities lie.
That they reacted so vehemently to what they dismissively call the “Vance agreement” speaks to the depth of their commitment.
They are certainly relentless – a quality that many no doubt regard as a virtue. They are also remarkably effective, with a strong record of influencing foreign policy. What they lack, however, is composure, as they are far less adept at winning hearts and minds when tensions run high.
U.S. President Donald Trump’s reluctance to call out such figures as readily as he has denounced others for the grave crime of opposing Israeli extremism has been notable indeed. This is especially striking given that these same individuals do not hesitate to scold him the moment he attempts to act with even a modicum of independence, or at least independently of them. In those moments, some of them accuse Trump of harboring intentions most foul, while others say that it is simply ignorance.
One of them is the Telegraph columnist Jake Wallis Simons, who wrote ahead of the NATO summit in Ankara that “Trump has been fooled by the Turkish cuckoo in the NATO nest.” Of course, Simons is hardly a commentator to be taken seriously, yet figures advancing similar arguments have nevertheless been taken seriously before, not least by Trump himself. During the war with Iran, he recommended that his supporters watch Fox News host Mark Levin to get informed.
The kind of information the likes of Simons and Levin provide their audience with is obviously value-laden. In fact, it is rarely anything more than reporting on the demands of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is currently leading a campaign against the U.S. government approving the sale of F-35 fighter jets to Türkiye, which he warned could “upset the balance of power in the region.”
Naturally, his de facto representatives in the public sphere have taken it upon themselves to amplify this message, trying to pressure the U.S. government to reverse course. To make their case, they have resorted to strange tactics, including quoting Trump’s own words back to him, basically asking: How could the U.S. sell advanced military equipment to a country that “could have gotten into the fight on the other side”?
Levin’s question may sound reasonable at first, at least compared to his claim that Türkiye is part of “the alliance between communists and sharia-supremacists whose object is destroying Western civilization.” He is clever enough to place the U.S. alongside Israel on “the other side” of Türkiye, transforming Trump’s characteristically exaggerated remark into a warning that Washington is arming a potential adversary. Yet, it is hardly plausible that Trump was congratulating himself for persuading a head of state not to join a war against the U.S. itself. He was clearly responding to those professing concern about Türkiye’s “relationship with Israel,” telling them that Türkiye is “a very powerful military nation,” before adding that “they didn’t” get involved in the war and “maybe they didn’t because of me.” It was, if anything, a reminder that Levin and his allies really ought to be grateful for that.
Of course, even this is probably reading too much into Trump’s usual rhetorical flourish. Nonetheless, the fact that he chose to respond to his critics in this way is noteworthy. It remains to be seen, however, whether he will eventually be fooled again by the Israeli cuckoo, this time with respect to Türkiye.
