Former CIA agent Valerie Plame Wilson on Thursday tweeted an article that argued American Jews are pushing for war in the Middle East, specifically with Iran.
The article, titled “America’s Jews Are Driving America’s Wars,” is featured in The Unz Review, an online magazine that bills itself as an “alternative” to the “mainstream media.”
After several minutes of questions from Twitter users who were shocked by her tweet, Wilson doubled down, arguing critics should read the article and “put aside” any biases.
“1) First of all, calm down. Re-tweets don’t imply endorsement. Yes, very provocative, but thoughtful. Many neocon hawks ARE Jewish,” Wilson said.
Wilson noted in her series of follow-up tweets that she doesn’t support going to war with Iran or exiting the nuclear accord.
“There are simply 3) too many who are so ready to go to war. Haven’t we had enough for awhile?” Wilson tweeted.
After receiving strong backlash on Twitter, Wilson backtracked, saying she didn’t read the article thoroughly and had only paid attention to its criticism of neoconservatives.
{mosads}
“OK folks, look, I messed up. I skimmed this piece, zeroed in on the neocon criticism, and shared it without seeing and considering the rest,” Wilson tweeted.
She also said she “missed gross undercurrents” in the post and thanked Twitter users for urging her to take another look at the article’s argument.
“I’m not perfect and make mistakes. This was a doozy. All I can do is admit them, try to be better, and read more thoroughly next time. Ugh,” Wilson added.
The article the former CIA operative linked to argues that the neoconservative foreign policy establishment is largely beholden to American Jews with an attachment to Israel. The article’s author, Philip Giraldi, says American Jews shouldn’t be allowed to make decisions related to Middle East policy.
“We don’t need a war with Iran because Israel wants one and some rich and powerful American Jews are happy to deliver. Seriously, we don’t need it,” Giraldi writes.
Wilson has previously praised Giraldi’s writings on Israel, tweeting one of his articles from 2014 that offered strong criticism of Israel and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Wilson at the time said Giraldi’s argument was “well put.”
In the most recent post, Giraldi argued American Jews make “the war engine run” and have faked the threat posed by Iran, calling out well-known figures who hold hawkish stances on Iran, like Bill Kristol and David Frum.
“So it is safe to say that much of the agitation to do something about Iran comes from Israel and from American Jews. Indeed, I would opine that most of the fury from Congress re Iran comes from the same source, with AIPAC showering our Solons on the Potomac with ‘fact sheets’ explaining how Iran is worthy of annihilation because it has pledged to ‘destroy Israel,’ which is both a lie and an impossibility as Tehran does not have the resources to carry out such a task,” Giraldi wrote.