To understand how loathsome, dangerous, and dishonest the “Israel First” slur is, one must understand its genealogy. This is not a spontaneous phrase. It did not emerge from policy analysis or patriotic concern. It was manufactured—deliberately—by people for whom Jews are always the hidden hand behind events they dislike.

The phrase was popularized by Pat Buchanan, a man who spent decades laundering antisemitic tropes through the language of “America First” nationalism. Buchanan was not merely a contrarian conservative; he was a consistent apologist for Nazi-linked figures, an obsessive critic of “Jewish influence,” and a man who treated antisemitic conspiracy as a respectable worldview.

During the run-up to the First Gulf War, Buchanan accused George H. W. Bush of adopting an “Israel First” policy for acting against Saddam Hussein’s invasion of Kuwait. This accusation was detached from reality. The war had nothing to do with Israel’s interests and everything to do with Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, global oil supply, and U.S. credibility. In fact, Israel was put in greater danger by Bush’s actions. Saddam Hussein explicitly threatened Israel and followed through by launching Scud missiles at it. Bush actively restrained Israel from responding militarily, precisely to keep the coalition together. If this was “Israel First,” it was a strange version—one where Israel absorbed missiles and was told to sit on its hands.

But facts are an inconvenience to antisemites. The purpose of the slur was never accuracy. It was moral poisoning: to frame Jewish influence as treacherous, alien, and corrosive to American interests.

The same script was dusted off in the early 2000s when George W. Bush’s invasion of Iraq became unpopular. Once again, the antisemite’s reflex kicked in: if something is disastrous or immoral, blame the Jews. Never mind that the Israeli government repeatedly warned the Bush administration not to invade Iraq. Never mind that American Jews were disproportionately against the war from the start. None of this mattered. Truth was optional; scapegoating was mandatory.

Now we arrive at the present iteration. The “Israel First” slur has been revived by what can only be described as the Woke Reich—a fusion of identitarian grievance and conspiratorial nationalism—this time aimed at Ben Shapiro after his TPUSA speech dismantling their faux-populist moral panic.

Once again, the lie is trivial to disprove. Ben Shapiro did not mention Israel or Jews once in that speech. Anyone—literally anyone—can go to his YouTube channel and scroll. It takes seconds. Not minutes. Seconds. Roughly 98% of his content has nothing to do with Israel or Judaism. He has consistently argued against U.S. economic aid to Israel. The record is public, searchable, and boringly clear.

But here is the key point: because the lie is told about a Jew, no one bothers to check.

This is not accidental. Antisemitism thrives on the social permission to suspend verification. Accusations that would immediately trigger demands for evidence when aimed at any other group are waved through when Jews are the target. The lie feels familiar, emotionally satisfying, and ideologically useful—so it spreads unchallenged.

That is the throughline from Buchanan to today. The “Israel First” slur is not about policy disagreements. It is not about foreign aid or national interest. It is about resurrecting the oldest political shortcut in Western history: when confused, angry, or failing—blame the Jews.

To the antisemite, that impulse overrides everything. It overrides facts, reality, American interests, individual agency, honest debate, and justice itself. It replaces analysis with resentment and responsibility with conspiracy.

And that is why blaming the Jews is always a destructive societal force—and why it is fundamentally anti-American at its core.