Washington’s pro-Israel think tanks, like the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, are pumping out articles salivating over the prospect of controlling the nation’s oil.
By Robert Inlakesh, Reposted from The Palestine Chronicle, December 13, 2025
Not only is the pro-regime change Venezuelan opposition allied with the Israeli Likud Party, but toppling the government in Caracas directly serves Israel’s regional agenda. This is why pro-Israeli commentators are adamant that the US military intervene and put American lives on the line.
While parallels are beginning to be drawn between the buildup to the Iraq war and the Trump administration’s regime change propaganda against Venezuela, one key similarity is being conveniently left out of the picture.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is infamous for cheerleading the US’s illegal invasion of Iraq in 2003, a war which Israel refused to fight in itself, but nonetheless lobbied for and encouraged through its allied neoconservative think tanks in Washington, DC.
Despite the White House recently releasing a new 33-page National Security Strategy document, in which the US declared it is no longer seeking to engage in “nation-building wars” and that the days of regime change operations to export American values are over, the current administration is threatening just that against Venezuela. It is additionally aiming to achieve this outcome in Gaza through its UNSC-approved Gaza ceasefire plan.
The parallels to the buildup to the Iraq War couldn’t be any starker. Pro-Trump conservative commentators are currently salivating at the prospect of getting their hands on Venezuelan oil. In addition to this, the false charge that Venezuela is somehow responsible for the US’s fentanyl crisis has led to labeling the Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government as a “narcoterrorist” regime.
However, if you listen to what Trump administration officials are using as a justification for their goal of toppling Maduro, they consistently accuse Caracas of allying with Hezbollah and Hamas. Some pro-Israeli commentators even claim that Hezbollah and Hamas could be preparing attacks on the US homeland, not only an audacious and illogical charge, but one with not a shred of evidence to back it up.
These are also not the enemies of the US, but instead the enemies of Israel, making it more suspicious as to why there is such a hyper focus on this issue. For example, Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado recently spoke at a conference in Oslo and was asked to address the issue of US intervention in her country; her response was to declare the country “has already been invaded”.
“We have the Iranian agents. We have terrorist groups such as Hezbollah, Hamas, operating freely in accordance with the regime”, Machado claimed in order to justify the invasion of her nation.
The US also recently released footage of its illegal theft of a Venezuelan oil tanker, justifying this move by claiming it was used to transfer Iranian oil. It is of note that Tehran’s relationship with Caracas is frequently cited as if it represents a threat to the United States. Moves like the recent tanker seizure represent a step that is an aggression toward Iran by proxy.
Donald Trump, whose long-desired Nobel Peace Prize was stolen away by the pro-war Venezuelan opposition leader he backs to overthrow Maduro, attempts to pride himself on the idea that he is a broker of peace and opposed to regime-change wars. Yet, between March and May, he launched a failed war on Yemen, followed by directly striking Iran in June, both acts committed solely for the sake of Israel.
Washington’s pro-Israel think tanks like the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) are pumping out articles groveling over the prospect of controlling the nation’s oil, but also ensuring that the new Venezuela led by a US-puppet regime will cut ties with Israel’s enemies.
In a new article written by the FDD’s Senior Iran and Financial Economics Advisor, Saeed Ghasseminejad, it spells out in a tone of certainty that “a new regime in Caracas would sever ties with Iran. Tehran uses Venezuela as a base for expanding its jihadi influence in America’s backyard. A U.S.-aligned Caracas would kick the Iranian agents out, making the southern border and the homeland more secure.”
The Atlantic Council think tank has even claimed that Lebanese Hezbollah “has helped to turn Venezuela into a hub for the convergence of transnational organized crime and international terrorism.”
In fact, in the same issue brief that was published back on October 7, 2020, entitled ‘The Maduro-Hezbollah Nexus: How Iran-backed Networks Prop up the Venezuelan Regime’, you see the think tank use the term “narcoterrorism”. The Atlantic Council blames Israel’s enemies for this, allegedly setting up a “narcoterrorism conspiracy that involved dissidents of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), drug cartels in Mexico, the Islamic Republic of Iran, Syria, and the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah.”
Such an obsessive focus on this fact-free conspiracy theory, which points the finger at a who’s who of Israel’s enemies, recently roping in Hamas also, is not by accident. Nor is the pledge of allegiance to Israel by the Venezuelan opposition.
While it is clear that Venezuela is allied with Iran and collaborates with it as a means of navigating the world under crushing US sanctions, these conspiracy theories presented by pro-Israel think tanks, Israel Lobby-sponsored politicians, and Israeli-aligned media outlets are about as serious as the claims that led to the Iraq War, in terms of the evidence to back them up.
Another motivating factor in Israel’s desire to see the Venezuelan State toppled is the emergence of what is now being called the “Isaac Accords”. This initiative was announced publicly by Argentine President Javier Milei late last month.
Failing to rope more major Arab and Muslim nations into the Trump administration’s so-called “Abraham Accords”, the Israeli government is now setting its sights on Latin America. The Isaac Accords demonstrate an active push from Israel to expand its influence in the Western Hemisphere.
Left-wing movements and governments in Latin America have historically stood with the Palestinian cause, a legacy of unified resistance to imperialism that lasts until this day. If Venezuela’s government is toppled, it is predicted that there will be a domino-style effect, knocking out other left-wing governments in the region, or at least the US will move onto the next targets. This means both Cuba and Nicaragua will be in the firing line.
In order for Tel Aviv to prove successful in its Isaac Accords mission, it needs US-funded parties to win elections and for Washington to carry out regime change operations across the region. The only country that appears immune to this strategy for now is Brazil under its current President, Lula da Silva.
Everywhere else, the Israelis have the perfect men in office to pursue this strategy to its bitter end. Take US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is not only the recipient of at least $1,013,563 in Israel Lobby funds, but has a personal animus toward the Cuban leadership as a member of that nation’s broadly pro-regime change diaspora. Rubio understands full well that regime change in Caracas leads to toppling the government in Havana.
While Israel is not the sole driver of the US Trump administration’s regime change agenda in Venezuela, it is undeniable that it is a factor and will certainly benefit from this outcome.
Robert Inlakesh is a journalist, writer, and documentary filmmaker. He focuses on the Middle East, specializing in Palestine.
Maduro: Zionists trying to hand Venezuela to ‘devils’ amid US tensions
“We are the people of David against the Goliaths that we have already defeated in history,” Maduro stated.
By Michael Starr, Reposted from The Jerusalem Post, November 17, 2025
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro said Zionists were trying to deliver his country to “devils” in a Saturday Bolivarian Integral Base Committees speech focused on pleading with the US against military escalation in the region.
“There are those who want to hand this country over to the devils – you know who, right? The far Right Zionists want to hand this country over to the devils,” said Maduro. “Who will prevail? The people of [King] David, the people of God, the people of [Simón] Bolívar, or the imperialist demons?”
Maduro cast the image of Venezuela as King David facing an American Goliath, saying that the king had both faith and God’s blessing.
“We are the people of David against the Goliaths that we have already defeated in history,” said Maduro. “If God wills it, we will face them.”
Maduro’s Christian battle
The president repeatedly emphasized that Venezuela was a Christian country, saying he wondered why Americans would want to kill Christians, amid a US military buildup in the Caribbean and strikes on alleged drug trafficking vessels.
“I place at the forefront of this battle our Lord Jesus Christ, to whom our homeland has been entrusted, the only king between heaven and Earth, Jesus of Nazareth, the young child and Palestinian martyr, Jesus of Nazareth,” Maduro repeated.
“I place Jesus of Nazareth as commander-in-chief of the battle for peace and the sovereignty of the Venezuelan people.”
Maduro made repeated appeals in broken English to the American people, urging them to say “no” to war and “yes” to peace, and danced on stage to John Lennon’s “Imagine.”
Anti-Israel groups have also tied Israelis to tensions in the Caribbean. The National Students for Justice in Palestine group announced on Friday a national day of action to “smash imperialism” and “crush Zionism.”
The Wednesday protest day against US military action targeting drug cartels and alleged drug boats asserted that “security” was a pretense for imperialist expansion.
“As students engaged in the struggle for Palestinian liberation, we recognize these strikes as part of the same machinery that arms the Zionist entity’s genocide of the Palestinian people,” said the SJP.
“Our struggle situates itself in a global struggle against imperialism, and we know when we strike the institutions in the belly of the beast, we weaken the chain that props up the Zionist entity’s occupation of Palestine. Likewise, we know that we must engage with anti-imperialist struggles wherever they manifest in order to weaken the chains that wrap themselves around our homelands,” it continued.
Michael Starr is the Diaspora affairs correspondent for The Jerusalem Post, covering global Jewish affairs, antisemitism, and radical anti-Israel activities.
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