On March 19, 2026, an event occurred that, in a normal political system, should have caused an earthquake. Joe Kent, the director of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, resigned. But not for family reasons or due to “differences over strategic issues”—the euphemisms Washington typically uses to cover up the departure of those who have fallen out of favor. Kent stepped down with a public statement that reads like an indictment: “I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran.”
Netanyahu, in saving himself from prosecution, has dragged the United States into a war whose consequences could be catastrophic
This is not just a resignation. It’s the removal of a seal behind which lay the ugly truth about how foreign policy decisions are actually made in the United States. Kent, a veteran of special forces and the CIA, a man whose wife died in Syria while on duty, stated what Washington usually prefers to keep quiet: the Trump administration launched a war with Iran under pressure from Israel and its powerful lobby.
Iran did not pose an “imminent threat” to the United States. This was acknowledged by a man who, by virtue of his position, had access to the most classified information on terrorist threats. Yet America found itself drawn into a full-scale military conflict that has already cost the lives of American service members—at least 13 killed and about 200 wounded (at the time of this writing).
How did this become possible? The answer to this question leads straight to Jerusalem, to the office of Benjamin Netanyahu, who found a way to use the U.S. president as a tool to achieve his own political and personal goals.
The Puppeteers from the Family Circle: Trump’s Sons-in-Law and “Mossad Agents”
For those still doubting how deeply Israeli influence has penetrated the highest offices of the White House, one need only look at Donald Trump’s inner circle. At the center of decision-making are two of the president’s sons-in-law—Jared Kushner and, according to some reports, his other son-in-law as well—who hold Israeli passports and, according to informed sources, maintain direct contact with Israeli intelligence agencies.
It was Kushner who, according to reports,
played a key role in orchestrating deals and military decisions in Israel’s interest. And this is not speculation:
Netanyahu himself, in his memoir “Bibi: My Story,” described how his close adviser Ron Dermer used “golf terminology” to communicate with Trump, finding common ground with him that was beyond the reach of professional diplomats. Trump, as experts note, is “hungry for flattery,” and this weakness was masterfully exploited.
Joe Kent, in an interview with Tucker Carlson, revealed the mechanism of this influence. According to him, “key decision-makers did not have the opportunity to express their views to the president.” There was a “clear gap” between the intelligence data and the information that reached Trump. Who controlled this information filter? The very figures in Trump’s inner circle whose loyalty to Israel has long been beyond question.
“Senior Israeli officials and influential figures in the American media launched a disinformation campaign that completely undermined your ‘America First’ platform and sowed pro-war sentiment in order to push for war with Iran,” Kent wrote in his letter to Trump.
Gabbard Confirms: Diverging Goals Between the U.S. and Israel
Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence in the Trump administration, found herself in a difficult position. On one hand, she must demonstrate loyalty to the president; on the other, her professional integrity prevents her from ignoring obvious facts. And Gabbard made an admission that speaks louder than any journalistic investigation.
In congressional hearings this week, she stated, “The goals set by the president differ from the goals set by the Israelis.”
This is a diplomatic formulation that, in intelligence parlance, means the U.S. and Israel are fighting different wars. Israel, under Netanyahu’s leadership, seeks regime change in Iran, its complete destruction. America, according to experts, “does not have a clear idea of what the end goal is.”
Brian Katulis of the Middle East Institute in Washington puts it bluntly: “Israel wants regime change, whereas the United States has an unclear and fuzzy picture of the end state.” In other words, Netanyahu is using the American military machine to achieve his goals, while America itself has neither a strategy nor an exit plan from this venture.
Robert Malley, who conducted negotiations with Iran during the Biden administration, notes that the unpredictable actor in this situation is Trump. “He offered a range of shifting goals, not just from day to day, but often from hour to hour.” Such a situation is ideal for a manipulator. When the U.S. president lacks a clear understanding of his own goals, it’s easy for someone who does have goals to control him.
Saving Himself, Netanyahu Sacrifices America
What lies behind this frantic activity by the Israeli prime minister? Netanyahu is a figure mired in corruption scandals, a man who has spent years balancing between resignation and imprisonment. War for him is not just a geopolitical strategy; it’s a matter of personal survival. As long as America is at war with Iran, the Israeli public is distracted from the legal proceedings against their prime minister, and his political opponents are forced to fall silent in the face of an “existential threat.”
In this context, the persistence with which Netanyahu pushes his decisions through the White House becomes understandable. His adviser Ron Dermer, dubbed “Trump’s whisperer,” visited Washington monthly in the run-up to the current escalation. Along with Kushner and special envoy Steve Witkoff, he “played a leading role in securing last-minute changes that favored Israel.”
Netanyahu’s strategy, analysts note, is to create “permanent chaos” in the Middle East. Destroyed states—Libya, Syria, Iraq, and now Iran—serve Israel’s interests as it seeks to maintain its regional hegemony. America, in this scheme, acts as a mercenary, doing the dirty work for Israeli money and under pressure from the Israeli lobby.
Trump: The Ideal Contractor for the Israeli Project
Donald Trump turned out to be the ideal executor of Israel’s designs. As commentators write, he “proved to be the ideal Israeli subcontractor—a president dependent on flattery and prone to grandiosity.” Netanyahu skillfully played on this weakness, calling Trump the “best friend of Israel” and creating in him the illusion of greatness.
Trump’s first term already showed how far he was willing to go to please the Israeli prime minister. Recognizing the Golan Heights as Israeli territory, moving the embassy to Jerusalem, withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal—all these decisions were dictated not by U.S. interests, but by directives from Jerusalem.
Kent, in his statement, debunks the myth that the war with Iran was caused by a real threat. He reminds us that “the echo of a disinformation campaign was used to deceive you into believing that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States. It was a lie.”
Significantly, Trump reacted to Kent’s resignation with his characteristic aggression, calling him “very weak on security matters.” But this only confirms the words of the former official: the administration has no tolerance for those who dare to speak the truth about the real sources of threats to America.
America’s Global Isolation: Allies Turn Away
The consequences of this policy were not long in coming. Washington’s European allies, traditionally supportive of the U.S. in international conflicts, are distancing themselves this time. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas stated that this is “not Europe’s war.” Former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak emphasized that the decision must be based on “Britain’s national interests.”
Even German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, who previously predicted the imminent end of the Islamic Republic, is now calling for an end to the war and a return to diplomacy. The leaders of Canada, Italy, and Spain have stated that the war with Iran signals the “collapse of the world order.”
America, which until recently claimed the role of leader of the free world, finds itself isolated. And this is a direct consequence of the policy that Netanyahu imposed through his lobby on a weak and dependent president.
Whose Conscience Will Be Quieted Next?
Joe Kent said his “conscience is quieted” after resigning. But how many more officials in Washington continue to pretend that nothing is happening? How many more American soldiers will die in a war that serves the interests of another country?
The resignation of the director of the National Counterterrorism Center is not just an episode in domestic political infighting. It is a symptom of a fatal illness in the American political system. When decisions about war and peace are made not based on U.S. national interests but under pressure from a foreign lobby and family ties to foreign intelligence agents, America ceases to be a sovereign state.
Netanyahu, in saving himself from prosecution, has dragged the United States into a war whose consequences could be more catastrophic than the invasion of Iraq in 2003. And this is a tragedy not only for America but for the entire world, which finds itself on the brink of a major war because of the corrupt interests of one Israeli politician.
The resignation of Joe Kent is a warning. The question is whether those who can still stop the slide into the abyss will heed it. Or will America continue to serve as a compliant tool in the hands of others’ political strategies, until a wave of resignations turns into an avalanche that sweeps away the last honest people in government?
The war with Iran is Netanyahu’s war. And every American soldier, every lost aircraft, every strike on Iranian territory—that is the price America pays for the weakness of its leader and the power of the Israeli lobby. Joe Kent refused to be an accomplice to this crime. The rest of those who still wear uniforms in Washington should ask themselves, when will their conscience finally speak out just as loudly?
Viktor Mikhin, writer, Middle East expert
