There’s a very common narrative that Israel controls or massively influences US leaders, that for instance, this war on Iran was done at Israel’s bidding, or that Netanyahu has dirt on Trump, all kinds of variations of this concept are extremely popular. “The Israel lobby” etc
This war is also not about Epstein, another misconception.
Quite simply the purpose of this war is to defeat the axis of resistance. The US and Israel have long aimed to do this – to defeat Iran, Hezbollah and the Palestinians. These are the only forces that stand in the way of US/Israeli hegemony in the region.
Trump and his predecessors and Netanyahu have talked about this for decades. Every action they have taken is in furtherance of these goals. From Israel bombing Syria for 15 years, (a fact mostly ignored by the media), the periodic attacks on Gaza to the continuous attacks on Lebanon.
While this most recent war on Iran is sudden and unexpected, nothing has changed from the point of view of the US and Israel, who are in alignment. Hegemony over the Middle East, a point of major strategic importance, not only because of its location but because of its oil and gas wealth. “a stupendous source of strategic power, and one of the greatest material prizes in world history”
https://chomsky.info/20021203/
Neither does Israel control US foreign policy. Sure their goals are similar, almost indistinguishable – Israel very much wants this war on Iran, there’s no doubt about it. But Israel is an arm of US empire.
It’s a very convenient excuse to blame Israel for the crimes of the USA. That’s because people don’t want to confront the material reality that the US is a vicious empire which has acted in an atrocious manner for its entire existence.
“If Israel didn’t exist, we would have to invent it” – Joe Biden.