Alex Krainer
One
of the themes that’s gained prominence in social, but also in some
traditional media, is the role of Israel and Zionist leadership in
maneuvering President Trump into launching the 28 February attack on Iran. During the recent days, we had the resignation of Joe Kent, Trump’s Director of National Counterterrorism Center who, in his scathing resignation letter wrote as follows:
“I
cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war on Iran. Iran posed
no imminent threat to our nation and it is clear that we started this
war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”
This
high-level resignation from a previously staunch Trump supporter gained
a lot of attention, both nationally and internationally. Perhaps the
most discussed part of Joe Kent’s resignation letter is exactly the
above paragraph. Israel’s influence over Trump was further corroborated by The Guardian on Tuesday, citing the UK National Security Adviser Jonathan Powell’s attendance at 26 February Geneva talks between the Iranian delegates and Trump envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
The
Guardian cited a “Gulf diplomat with knowledge of the talks,” who said,
“We regarded Witkoff and Kushner as Israeli assets that dragged a
president into a war he wants to get out of.” In the aftermath of the 28
February attack, Trump himself said that he made the decision to attack
in consultations with “Steve and Jared and Pete … and Marco,” referring
to Wytkoff, Kushner, Secretary of War Hegseth and State Secretary
Rubio.
Attack on the eve of Purim
All
this put Israel in the spotlights, prompting many to make statements to
the effect that the Zionists “own” or control Trump. Among other
things, they’ve noted that the attack happened on the eve of the Jewish
holiday of Purim, which commemorates Jewish victory over the Persian
Empire which was then ruled by Xerxes.
This angle further
opens a whole can of worms that leans heavily into Jewish eschatology
which does ring relevant in the current conflict. Last June, I wrote an
article titled, “Israel in Jewish Eschatology” which could explain the behavior of Zionist leaders today.
Some
researchers who poured over Epstein files claim that Trump is
controlled by the Jewish movement Chabad Lubavich (as evidence, they
point to an unclassified FBI document that claims this, citing “a
confidential human source [who] told this to investigators.”).
Allegedly, Jared Kushner, Sheldon Adelson and Howard Lutnick
are (were) also members of this movement whose core tenet was the
preparation of the world for the messianic age in which the third Temple
would be built in Jerusalem, the Messiah would reveal himself and a
Jewish kingdom would be established over the whole world.
Donald
Trump was to play a prominent role in all this: apparently, Chabad
believes that Trump is Messiah Ben Joseph, the forerunner to the real
Jewish Messiah Ben David. But in order to Messiah Ben David to reveal
himself, the world must be plunged in a Messianic age and an Armageddon.
I appreciate how irrational all of this may sound, but the Chabad
movement, which strongly backs Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, takes this entirely seriously. From last June’s TrendCompass:
According
to Jewish eschatology, the concept of redemption - making amends for
one’s sins in order to return to the good graces of God - applies not
only to individuals, but also to the land of Israel and its people.
However, before Jews can be redeemed and be blessed by the long-awaited
arrival of the Messiah, they must suffer through punishment for their
sins. To draw this punishment upon themselves, the Jews should let loose
their sinful impulses to such an extent that it will become obvious to
all and undeniable. Then, the entire world will then turn against Israel
and demand that it be punished. That would trigger Armageddon.
Only
when the people of Israel are made to pay for their sins can they be
redeemed and merit the arrival of the promised Messiah. Apparently a
significant segment of religious Jews do believe this and some of their
rabbis wield considerable influence in Israeli politics. One of them was
Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson who declared that Benjamin Netanyahu
was going to be the last leader of Israel before the Messiah’s arrival.
He also declared that 2 October 2027 was the deadline for Israel’s
redemption: the punishment and suffering must be done by then and the
Messiah would have to be officially recognized as having arrived.
Rabbi
Schneerson wasn’t a marginal figure; he was the leader of the
Chabad-Lubavich movement of Judaism; he was hugely influential and
transformed Chabad into one of the largest Jewish movements in the
world. His teachings were taken very seriously by his followers.
Benjamin Netanyahu, at least ostensibly, was one of them. A short,
1-minute video at this link
features a brief conversation between the two men, in which Schneerson
asks Netanyahu how things are progressing, imploring him to hasten the
arrival of the Messiah. Netanyahu agrees that he’ll do what he can.
After
the attack on Iran, Netanyahu stated with satisfaction that this was
the moment he’d been waiting for for 43 years. What we must recognize
however, is that the Chabad Lubavich doesn’t exactly represent
mainstream Judaism.
A loony fringe, not all Jews
A
large segment of religious Jewish community have the same essential
eschatological beliefs but with a very important difference: the
creation of the Jewish kingdom must not be brought about through the
actions of men. It must be done by God.
They are therefore
passionately opposed to the Zionist project and its concept of
“redemption to sin.” Unfortunately for some reason, these Jews are
consistently marginalized and attacked by Zionist jews. They have no
voice and no influence on either Israeli or U.S. policies. In fact, most
people aren’t even aware of them or their teachings.
The result
is that Israel is succeeding at one thing: drawing the wrath of the
world upon itself. The fundamental tenets of Jewish religion, which are
justice and compassion, are being drowned out by those seeking
redemption through sin and the sad by-product of all this is a rise in
antisemitism. In fullness of time, this could result in the realization
of Henry Kissinger’s 2012 prophecy: that in ten years’ time, Israel
would no longer exist. Israel survived ten years, but without U.S.
support, it might not survive much longer.