Pro-Israel Lobby Groups Flood Legacy Media to Pressure U.S. into Iran War
The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, a group founded to improve Israel's image, is CNN and Fox News' go-to expert.
President Donald Trump previously opposed war with Iran. He expected to continue nuclear negotiations that were scheduled for last Sunday in Oman. And his own administration confirmed intelligence reports that Iran has not sought a nuclear weapon. That posture disappeared as Israel launched hundreds of surprise attacks across Iran last week, sparking a new war in the Middle East.
Trump has since shifted his position and now leans toward bringing the U.S. into the conflict—a change reportedly influenced by watching cable television showing Israel’s bombardment of Iran, particularly coverage on Fox News.
The information he is receiving, however, is hardly objective.
Turn on any legacy American news program over the past six days since Israel began bombing Iran, and the networks have featured nonstop pro-Israel commentary.
The Foundation for the Defense of Democracies (FDD), a think tank, exemplifies this trend. While many pro-Israel voices regularly appear as talking heads, FDD officials have surfaced on television, radio, and online outlets almost hourly to promote Israel's war and demand American strikes against Iran.
As soon as the bombing began last Thursday night, former IDF spokesperson Jonathan Conricus, now a senior FDD fellow, appeared on Fox News to praise the strike. The following day brought a parade of FDD representatives: Conricus on CNN's 3:00 p.m. hour, senior fellow Bill Roggio on Fox News at 4:00 p.m., and CEO Mark Dubowitz on Fox News at 11:00 p.m., according to news transcript searches.
Much of this commentary has been misleading. Conricus falsely claimed that Israel's initial strikes only targeted Iranian military facilities and nuclear sites. In reality, on the very first night, Israel attempted to assassinate Ali Shamkhani, Iran's chief negotiator working with Steve Witkoff, by bombing his family home. Shamkhani—who had praised engagement with the Trump administration and called for normalization with America—reportedly survived but required leg amputation due to his injuries.
The media blitz extends beyond traditional outlets. FDD experts have appeared on The Daily Wire and The Free Press in recent days, repeating Israeli military claims. In many cases, such as recent appearances on CBS News and Fox News, FDD’s officials are presented as neutral military analysts rather than as pro-Israel spokesmen.
This pattern has continued daily, with FDD staff making round-the-clock television appearances calling for American military involvement against Iran.
Yesterday, FDD president Cliff May characterized potential U.S. bombing of Iran's underground facilities as effortless. "It probably means an [American] pilot goes and drops two bombs, as you've described, from a B-2, very big bombs, thirty thousand pounds, and then he goes home and has breakfast in Missouri with his family in the morning," May claimed on Fox News.
"The United States joining a strike on Fordow and any other facilities that remain is a must at this point," tweeted FDD deputy director Andrea Stricker.
FDD portrays itself as a nonprofit founded after September 11th, engaged in advocacy for "strengthening U.S. national security and reducing or eliminating threats posed by adversaries and enemies of the United States and other free nations."
That description is misleading.
IRS documents reveal that FDD filed for nonprofit status on April 24, 2001—months before 9/11. The group was originally named "EMET," Hebrew for "truth," with the stated purpose of enhancing "Israel's image in North America and the public's understanding of issues affecting Israeli-Arab relations."
Brigadier General (Res.) Sima Vaknin Gill, a former Israeli Air Force intelligence officer who helped establish several pro-Israel lobbying efforts in the U.S. during her tenure at Israel's Ministry of Strategic Affairs, has identified FDD as a key asset. In a previous presentation on tracking pro-Palestinian organizations in America through data-mining and other forms of research, Vaknin-Gill noted, "We have FDD. We have others working on this."
FDD routinely lobbies Congress to escalate tensions on Iran and other countries viewed as adversaries of Israel. Last year, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Tex., led a Senate letter to the Biden administration demanding increased sanctions on Iranian banks. Metadata from the document shows that the author of the Cruz letter was Nick Stewart, FDD’s Senior Director of Government Relations, who is responsible to managing congressional relations and other lobbying efforts.
Meanwhile, FDD routinely partners with the Israeli government officials to coordinate legal strategies for curbing pro-Palestinian activism in the United States. In 2019, for instance FDD legal expert Orde Kittrie was listed on a government panel hosted in Israel hosted by government officials on combating nonviolent economic protests of Israel’s human rights abuses in the West Bank.
FDD operates within a larger ecosystem of pro-Israel advocacy. Dozens of think tanks, Super PACs, institutes, and lobbying organizations work to advance Israeli government positions in American politics.