US Congressman Randy Fine: 'Israel doesn’t control America and America doesn’t control Israel'

If you listen to Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens and other far right influencers long enough you’ll hear one constant refrain: America is controlled by Israel. Every step. Every move. Every plan. They talk about this ad nauseam and they have millions of followers who believe them. Every single word.

President Donald Trump has repeatedly pushed back against the idea that Israel dictates American foreign policy. In recent months he publicly emphasized that American decisions are made based on American interests and that he – not any foreign leader – makes the final call on U.S. policy.

Recently, in a phone interview with The Financial Times earlier this week, Trump said Israel “won’t have any choice” when it comes to agreeing to a deal to end the war with Iran. Furthermore, he made clear that it was he, not Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Bibi), who is in charge. “I call the shots. I call all the shots. He doesn’t call the shots."

Axios also reported this week that Trump told Bibi not to retaliate against Iran after being attacked, but Israel went ahead anyway, striking military targets in western and central Iran. 

Florida Congressman Randy Fine, an influential pro-Israel advocate, tells me the events the last few days underscored a basic reality: while Israel and the United States are close allies, the idea that Israel is telling America what to do is utter nonsense. “The good news here is what this proves is that Israel doesn’t control America, and America doesn’t control Israel,” Fine says.

“You have two sovereign nations that each make the right decisions for them and our interests aren’t always the same. Hezbollah firing rockets – sometimes 30 a day at Israel – is Israel’s problem, not America’s problem…so we are the best of friends. But sometimes even the best of friends have different interests.”

It’s a point that has become increasingly visible during the recent conflicts involving Iran and Lebanon. Israel has demonstrated on multiple occasions that it is willing to act independently even when the White House would prefer a different course.

There have been other examples as well. In 2025, Trump publicly opposed any Israeli move to annex the West Bank, saying, “I will not allow Israel to annex the West Bank,” and adding, “There’s been enough. It’s time to stop now.” Whether one agrees with Trump’s position or not, the episode demonstrated that Washington and Jerusalem do not always see eye-to-eye.

The reverse is also true. The Trump administration has taken actions that were not necessarily Israel’s preferred path. In 2025, U.S. officials informed Israel that if Jerusalem decided to strike Iranian nuclear facilities, it would largely be on its own rather than as part of a joint U.S. operation. That message made clear that the United States would make its own calculations regarding military involvement.

That’s exactly the dynamic Fine says people often miss.

“What I do know is that the United States of America would never allow a neighboring country to fire rockets at it every day, so we can’t be surprised when our best friend adopts the same standard that we would adopt for ourselves,” Fine said. “But I also understand why President Trump won’t necessarily like that, because it gets in the way of America’s interests.”

In Fine’s view, Israel has every right to pursue policies it believes are necessary for its own survival – even if those decisions occasionally create complications for Washington. That includes Iran.

“I support Israel bombing the heck out of Iran, because that’s what’s in the best interest of Israel,” Fine told me. “But you don’t see me calling on us to do it as well.”

Iran, of course, is watching all of this in real time, believing that any rift or distance between Israel and America will benefit Iran. However, Fine argues that the rift inside American politics is the real problem and this is where the congressman directs his criticism squarely at Democrats.

He believes the regime in Tehran sees Democratic opposition to Trump’s policies and concludes that it can simply outlast the current pressure campaign.

“I believe had all Americans, including Democrats, stood with President Trump, I believe this would have been over a long time ago,” Fine said. “I think the Iranians can see the hand-wringing by those on the left and they go, ‘Ooh, we can just wait this out.’”

Fine argues that bipartisan unity would have sent a much stronger signal to Iran. Instead, he says Tehran has seen a divided America and adjusted its strategy accordingly. His frustration is particularly directed at congressional debates over military authority and repeated efforts by Democrats to limit or end U.S. involvement.

“Well, I think that the really bad position that is taken is that Iran can see that Democrats are pushing for us to just quit,” Fine said. “Every time I go to Washington, every time there’s one of these war powers resolutions where Democrats, who for years said Iran should not have a nuclear weapon, finally get weak in the knees when we actually do something about it, that has done real damage.”