How far-right antisemitism is shaping the debate over U.S. involvement in the Israel-Iran war
The ability for Republicans to embrace far-right positions on issues like immigration or transgender rights, while keeping hostility toward Jews a safe distance from policymaking, is breaking down
President Donald Trump sits down for a conversation with Tucker Carlson during his Live Tour at the Desert Diamond Arena on October 31, 2024. Photo by Getty Images
By Arno Rosenfeld June 18, 2025
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The public debate over antisemitism often treats the main political threat to Jews as coming from the left, with Jewish leaders concerned that anti-Zionism on the left could translate into policy shifts among Democrats.
In contrast, even as Republicans adopted far-right positions on issues like immigration or transgender rights, the party seemed to sequester hostility toward Jews a safe distance from actual policymaking.
Rep. Elise Stefanik, for example, adroitly managed to promote the Great Replacement, a favorite conspiracy theory among white supremacists that claims a shadowy elite is importing immigrants for political gain, while crusading against campus antisemitism.
Before he was appointed, Kash Patel, the FBI director, appeared eight times on the podcast of Stew Peters, an antisemite who later called for the mass deportation of American Jews, but moved quickly to respond to the fire attack in Boulder against people marching to advocate for Israeli hostages.
Even Rep. Paul Gosar, who has spoken at conferences organized by Nick Fuentes, the white supremacist and Holocaust denier, has a web page touting his pro-Israel voting record and opposition to antisemitism.
Elon Musk was part of a far-right milieu on social media, and at one point accused Jews of fomenting hatred of white people, yet when pressed he disavowed antisemitism and embraced Israel.
But this has increasingly felt like a fragile quarantine.
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Theo Von, a comedian who hosts one of the country’s most popular podcasts, made headlines this month for telling Vice President JD Vance that he thought Israel was committing genocide in Gaza — an allegation that had almost exclusively been associated with Israel’s left-wing opponents.
“I don’t understand why left-leaning media — which is mostly Jewish — are calling people white supremacists, dude?” Von had mused in January, while appearing on Joe Rogan’s even more popular podcast. “Why do they hate white guys?”
This comfort with openly criticizing both Jews and Israel has extended to the growing right-wing calls for the United States to stay out of the war between Israel and Iran.
“You can feel the hatred of Israel starting to build on the right,” Jake Shields, a former mixed martial arts fighter with a huge social media following, said on Monday. “We are done being blackmailed, bribed and killed by Jews.”
Simon Goddek, a libertarian scientist who rose to fame as a skeptic of COVID-19, shared a longstanding antisemitic lie with his 1 million followers on X: “Is it just me noticing that it’s especially Jewish Americans pushing hardest to drag the U.S. into a full-blown war with Iran — while being, demographically, the least likely to ever send their own kids to fight it?”
https://t.co/r0h0Ldv1YS pic.twitter.com/ptnvrlVNxn
— Grace Chong, MBI (@gc22gc) June 17, 2025
Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host, has also strayed from legitimate policy discussion while lobbying Vice President JD Vance and Donald Trump Jr., both close personal friends, to stop the U.S. from intervening in the war on behalf of Israel.
Carlson claimed on Monday that Israel was responsible for Europe’s supposed “economic, political and demographic crisis” — meaning that the white share of the population is shrinking with negative effects on the economy and government — because the Jewish state, he believes, was responsible for the Syrian civil war, which sent refugees fleeing to Europe.
This contortion managed to combine two white supremacist conspiracies: Not only are Muslim immigrants an existential threat to Western countries, but rather than Israel serving as an ally in the war against radical Islam — as the country’s leaders and its conservative supporters have long claimed — the Jews are in fact behind the replacement of white Europeans by Middle Eastern immigrants.
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None of this is to say that Republican support for Israel is dead. “Somebody please explain to kooky Tucker Carlson that, ‘IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON!’” Trump responded on social media, begging the question of why such a “kook” was given a primetime speaking slot at the Republican National Convention over the summer.
But this growing trend points to one of the dangers in relying on the Trump administration to lead the fight against antisemitism. While President Donald Trump has taken the kind of aggressive action against universities that his predecessor had not — pulling billions in federal grants and canceling visas for hundreds of international students — the vanguard of Trump’s political movement is fueled by the kind of resentment, skepticism of minority rights and conspiracy theories that have historically proven to be a toxic combination for Jews and their political priorities.
A reminder: It was the self-identified alt-right and conservative college students who said they were most likely to avoid socializing with Jews because of Israel, and Republicans are 50% more likely than Democrats to say that prejudice against Jews is not a serious problem.
There are, of course, many different arguments driving the isolationist streak within the Republican Party, which has affected foreign aid, trade policy, military assistance to Ukraine and other issues that have little to do with Jews or Israel. And it remains unclear what Trump will do with Iran.
But it’s striking the extent to which right-wing figures with a checkered history when it comes to Jews are seeking to make opposition to American support for Israel a litmus test for inclusion in the conservative movement.
“Anyone slobbering for the U.S. to become fully involved in the Israel/Iran war is not America First/MAGA,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia Republican, posted on Instagram Monday. “Taking this position is NOT antisemitic.”
GO DEEPER:
- New data challenges assumptions about campus antisemitism (Forward)
- Elon Musk’s Jewish problem (Forward)
- The surprising right-wing push to keep us out of war (Vox)
- The Radical Right Is Coming for Your Sons (Free Press)
