As MAGA turns against Zionism, Israel Firsters stoke Islamophobia

Graffiti on the Islamic Center of America (Center for American Progress)

Why are certain conservative groups spending their time declaring American Muslim civil rights orgs to be terrorist groups?

By Ismail Allison, Reposted from The New Arab, November 28, 2025

Creeping sharia. The Muslim Brotherhood conspiracy. The last time these buzzwords were widely used, America was a very different nation. Our government was entangled in multiple Mideast forever wars, un-Islamic extremist groups like ISIS and Al-Qaeda were feeding off those conflicts to grow their ranks and launch new attacks, and anti-Muslim hate groups here in the US were having a field day fanning the flames of hate against American Muslims.

Back then, the American public, especially the political right, was much more susceptible to conspiracy theories about “sharia law” taking over America.

Today, with voices on the right increasingly tired of foreign conflict and increasingly aware of the influence foreign lobby groups wield over our government, it’s a different story.

In the wake of the Gaza genocide, conservatives, especially young conservatives, are rethinking the bellicose foreign policy that characterized our nation for decades and the unconditional flow of money and weapons we have provided to the Israeli government. These conservatives are less concerned about the imaginary threat of “sharia law” taking over America, and more concerned about corrupt politicians who put a foreign nation’s interests before theirs.

So why are we seeing these stale conspiracies seemingly everywhere again? Why are influential (or more precisely, formerly influential) right-wing media institutions promoting them? Why are social media platforms like X boosting anti-Muslim content? And why are certain right-wing politicians spending time declaring American Muslim civil rights organizations as terrorist groups?

The answer is simple – this surge in anti-Muslim bigotry is not coming from the right wing generally, but from the old guard Israel First right, who are very well aware that they are losing the narrative among the younger generation of conservatives. Whipping up Islamophobia is their last, desperate attempt at stopping the bleeding.

Awakening

The past three years of Israel’s genocide in Gaza has not only mobilized progressive and left-leaning Americans into opposition to Israeli influence over American foreign policy, but has also led to a great ‘awakening’ on the right. Some prominent figures in the MAGA movement, like Marjorie Taylor Greene, realized that the America First agenda they so vigorously fought to enforce has a very significant exception in the eyes of many of their leaders and elected officials.

The Trump administration has given over $14 billion in taxpayer dollars to the Israeli government this year alone, on top of the billions more it already receives annually. It has also brought the US to the brink of war with Iran for the sake of Israeli geopolitical interests.

Despite all this, and the actions of Trump’s previous administration in advancing the so-called Abraham Accords, officially recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, and assassinating Iranian military leader Qassem Soleimani, the Israeli government is not grateful or satisfied.

The Israeli government’s constant violations of the already favorable ceasefire the Trump administration secured for them and its constant demands for more weapons, more military action, and more money from the American taxpayer, has soured much of the MAGA right in particular on our nation’s relationship with its so-called “greatest ally.”

Couple this with the tone-deaf and often hysterical outbursts of Israel First pundits like Ben Shapiro and Mark Levin, and the transparent attempts to use America as a juggernaut for Israel by politicians like Ted Cruz, Randy Fine and Brian Mast, and it becomes easy to understand why the fiercely isolationist and highly skeptical portions of the right have begun to call foul.

How has the Israel First right decided to respond to this reality?

Instead of changing course and putting America First, they are doubling down on anti-Muslim bigotry as a distraction tool.

Muslims are to blame

From new laws that purport to ban “sharia law” to manufactured controversy in cities like Dearborn, to witch-hunts waged against Muslim-led development projects like EPIC City, to the ludicrous claims that liberal politicians like Zohran Mamdani are “jihadists” on the verge of turning American cities into Islamic fiefdoms, the Israel First right has pulled all the stops.

Just this past week, the Israel First governor of Texas unilaterally and unconstitutionally declared our civil rights organization, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a terrorist group because of our criticism of Israel and three successful lawsuits we have filed against him in the past for punishing Texans who support Palestinian human rights.

The Israel First movement is also trying to recover its losses on social media by stoking anti-Muslim bigotry there, through the use of botted accounts and algorithmic boosts to spew anti-Muslim hate.

Evidence suggests much of this is directed by the Israeli government itself. In late 2024, Israel reportedly increased its global public relations budget by $150 million, funding to be used in “consciousness warfare” according to Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar.

Leaked 2025 documents produced by Stagwell Global, a PR firm whose founder is tied to the Likud Party, reveal findings from research Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs commissioned. The research reportedly found that “Israel’s best tactic to combat this, according to the study, is to foment fear of ‘Radical Islam’ and ‘Jihadism,’ which remain high.”

These political crackdowns and botted social media hate campaigns have not changed the fact that support for the Israeli government’s human rights abuses among Americans is at an all-time low. They have not changed the fact that more and more conservative Americans–especially younger ones who constitute the future of the party–are tired of Israel First, warmongering politics.

Americans on both sides of the political spectrum are rejecting and waking up to the reality of a foreign power’s undue influence over our government’s policies. Using the “Muslim boogeyman” is a longstanding distraction tool of Israel First extremists. This time, that tool must not work.

Ismail Allison serves as National Communications Manager at the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization.

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