| THE LIE Without American military support, Israel would quickly be destroyed by Iran. |
| THE TRUTH Israel is militarily and economically self-reliant. U.S. support for Israel is a net strategic benefit to American security and power. |
| BACKGROUND On May 12, 2026, influencer and congressional candidate Dan Bilzerian told Alex Jones that if he were president, he would cut all ties with Israel and allow Iran to destroy it. (X) “I would let the problem take care of itself,” he said, adding: “If we stop defending Israel, I think they would get what they deserve.”The claim was explicit: that Israel’s survival depends on American military protection, and that without it, Iran could exterminate the Jewish state.Bilzerian then accused Israel of being a “terror state” because of its alleged nuclear arsenal and refusal to sign the nuclear non-proliferation treaty — using this accusation to justify the broader claim that America should abandon Israel and allow its destruction. |
| TRUTH EXPLAINEDThe claim that Iran could simply “destroy” Israel ignores military reality. Israel has overwhelming advantages in air power, intelligence, cyber warfare, missile defense, and military technology, including F-35 stealth fighters, elite special forces, and intelligence agencies that have repeatedly penetrated the Iranian regime at the highest levels. (Britannica), (FDD) Israel has demonstrated it can strike Iran directly without American troops fighting alongside it. Israel has dominated Iranian airspace, struck military and nuclear targets deep inside Iran, and eliminated approximately 250 Iranian military and political leaders. Iran has failed to overwhelm Israel militarily. (New York Times), (CSIS) Geography also works against Iran. The two countries are more than 1,000 miles apart with no shared border, meaning Iran cannot invade Israel by land and must rely heavily on missiles, drones, and proxy groups like Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis — all of which Israel has spent years degrading. (Pentagon) Israel is widely believed to possess roughly 90 nuclear warheads along with multiple delivery systems. Iran has no confirmed nuclear weapons. Even Bilzerian himself claims Israel would use nuclear weapons, meaning any Iranian attempt to “wipe out” Israel could end in catastrophic destruction for Iran itself. (Arms Control Center) Israel is what military strategists call a “force multiplier.” It shares high-level intelligence on Iran and terrorist networks, helps develop and test advanced technologies, and conducts operations against Iranian nuclear infrastructure and proxy forces that would otherwise require far greater American military involvement. (The Ettinger Report), (Hylton), (JINSA) Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has advocated phasing out American military aid, arguing that Israel should not depend on foreign assistance — hardly the position of a country incapable of surviving on its own. (60 Minutes) |
| QUOTES “Israel has long demonstrated that it is both willing and able to defend itself with critical but limited support from the United States. Israel is a model ally, and we have an opportunity now to further empower it to defend itself and promote our shared interests, building on President Trump’s historic efforts to secure peace in the Middle East.” — Department of Defense, 2026 |
| TAKEAWAY Israel doesn’t need American troops to survive Iran; it has already proven that on the battlefield, in Iranian airspace, against Iranian nuclear sites, without a single U.S. soldier fighting alongside it. His claim that Iran would simply “destroy” Israel without American protection is shocking ignorance from a man actively campaigning for a seat in the United States Congress. Americans deserve representatives who understand basic facts before calling for the annihilation of an ally. Bilzerian has made clear that he is not one of them. |
