Skip to main content

← Israeli Press on US Ground Troops

War is not inevitable

Lonny Baskin, who describes himself as a political and social activist, posted War is not inevitable on The Times of Israel blogs. The page does not show a publication date. He calls the Iran war a joint American-Israeli war, and he says it is the result of a long strategy of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, not a war that had to be fought. An American family should care because he is tying the United States' part in this war to a plan written for an Israeli leader.

Background for new readers: On 28 February 2026 the United States and Israel began a joint air war on Iran. The Pentagon calls its part Operation Epic Fury; Israel calls its part Operation Roaring Lion. It came eight months after a shorter war in June 2025, when US bombers hit Iran's nuclear sites at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. The question running through this section is whether the air war turns into American soldiers fighting on Iranian soil. This article is filed under Israeli Press on US Ground Troops; the full article index lists every article on this shelf.

Evidence rating: MODERATE. This is a named Israeli activist's reading, posted on The Times of Israel blogs. His central point, that Israel's role drove the war, is backed by a stronger source below: a State Department legal opinion saying the United States entered the war "at the request of" Israel.

What the article says​

Baskin writes that Netanyahu has long preferred war to talks, especially with Iran. He traces that preference to A Clean Break, a 1996 paper prepared for Netanyahu that, Baskin writes, reportedly told Israel to drop land-for-peace and instead weaken or remove hostile regimes. Baskin says the paper named Iraq and Syria, and that the aim was to reorder the Middle East in Israel's favor. He calls that a shift from land for peace to what he labels creative destruction.

"This joint US-Israel war against Iran is not a war of necessity; it is a culmination of Netanyahu's long-held vision."

Lonny Baskin, The Times of Israel blogs, date not shown on the page.

He writes that Netanyahu's claims before the 12-day war in June 2025, and the claims he and President Donald Trump made after it, were exaggerated. Baskin calls those claims lies. That is his charge. This page does not treat it as a proven fact. He writes that the Iran war also helps Netanyahu move the public off the failures of October 7, 2023, the crisis in Gaza, and Netanyahu's corruption trials. Those trials are Baskin's phrase for Netanyahu's legal cases. The blog does not include a reply from Netanyahu or from Trump.

When Baskin mentions soldiers in the air and on land, he means Israelis. He writes that much of the opposition backs "our soldiers both in the air and on land" because criticism of the war would be heard as an attack on the Israel Defense Forces. He does not name an American ground unit in Iran. He writes that the war has exposed the United States and Gulf allies to serious risk, and that more Americans now tell pollsters they sympathize with Palestinians than with Israel. He presents that shift as analysts' view, which he ties to policies under Netanyahu.

What other reporting adds​

Dating the blog. The blog quotes another site saying the war was on its thirteenth day. Counting from 28 February 2026, that places the post around 12 March 2026. That is an estimate. The page itself still shows no date.

A US government document on who asked. Snopes rated as True the claim that a 2026 US government document says the United States entered the war "at the request of" Israel. It quotes State Department legal adviser Reed Rubinstein: the United States entered the war "at the request of and in the collective self-defense of its Israeli ally, as well as in the exercise of the United States' own inherent right of self-defense." (Snopes, 30 April 2026; research capture: twitter/t13__v146.md). That is stronger evidence for Baskin's point about Israel's role than his blog provides.

Netanyahu's answer. In June, Netanyahu said, as C-SPAN's transcript renders it: "ISRAEL DID NOT DRAG THE U.S. INTO A CONFLICT WITH IRAN," and "I MISLED NO ONE AND I DID NOT HAVE TO CONVINCE PRESIDENT TRUMP." (C-SPAN, 3 June 2026; research capture: twitter/t13__v145.md).

Where A Clean Break fits. The captures record commentator Scott Horton, as summarized by another writer, linking the 1992 Wolfowitz defense guidance, the 1996 Clean Break paper, and General Wesley Clark's account of a list of seven countries (research capture: twitter/t13__v155.md). For the documents themselves, see this investigation's Pentagon Plan for Greater Israel's List of Wars section.

What it shows​

An Israeli writer, on an Israeli news site, says what this investigation's documents show: that the joint war on Iran is "a culmination of Netanyahu's long-held vision," which he traces to A Clean Break, the 1996 paper prepared for Netanyahu. The US government's own legal opinion says America entered the war "at the request of" its Israeli ally.

The war that began at Israel's request is the war for which the Pentagon has since prepared American ground operations. See the Pentagon's list of wars, Israeli Leaders on a Ground War, and Pentagon Ground Plans 2026.

Check it yourself​

Status: Lonny Baskin is alive. Benjamin Netanyahu is alive. Donald Trump is alive.

Last Updated: 2026-09-26

Last updated on