Dear Friend of Israel,

On the evening of Saturday, June 21, which was the early hours of Sunday, June 22 in the Middle East, the United States military struck Iran's nuclear facilities at Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. The operation was code-named Midnight Hammer and from all accounts, was a resounding success.

US General Caine reported that the United States used its B2 bombers to drop 14 bunker-penetrating bombs - 12 on Fordow and 2 on Natanz. These particular bombs were necessary to reach facilities built hundreds of feet underground in solid rock. 125 American planes took part in the mission, in which a total of 75 precision bombs were dropped on Iranian nuclear targets. From hundreds of miles away, submarines advanced the operation by launching 30 cruise missiles at facilities in Natanz and Isfahan.

According to US Defense Secretary Hegseth: “Iran's nuclear ambitions have been obliterated.” Vice President Vance stated: “We destroyed Iran’s nuclear program.” And Secretary of State Rubio said that Iran had kept its enriched uranium in one place - implying it was all destroyed in this operation.

Israeli officials assessed the US damage to the targeted sites as follows:

- There is only a slim chance that Fordow was not destroyed because of the sheer number and force of the US bombs.
- The US carried out a "verification of destruction" at Natanz, which had already been attacked by Israel in previous days.
- The US attack in Isfahan targeted a site carved into the mountain where enriched material was hidden.

Throughout Sunday - Day 10 of Operation Rising Lion - Israeli fighter jets continued to target significant military infrastructure, weapon stockpiles, missile production sites, and launching sites throughout Iran. The IDF also attacked a Revolutionary Guards base in the Yazd region of central Iran. This is significant because the Yazd region is about 1,800 km from Israel, making it one of the most distant targets Israel has attacked so far. 
 
IDF Chief of Staff Eyal Zamir declared: "The IDF will continue to operate continuously until the objectives of the operation are completed."

US Involvement in Iran and Legacy Media Libels

There has been no shortage of voices in opposition to US involvement in Israel's war with Iran, both before and after the events of June 22nd. A common explanation for this position is that "the US is not at war with Iran." Unfortunately, this misguided assertion - frequently expressed by legacy media - demonstrates an alarming lack of knowledge of recent history AND a complete misunderstanding of the stated goals and intent of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Since the current Iranian regime came to power, it has been responsible for the killing and maiming of thousands of Americans in a number of different attacks. On November 4, 1979 - near the beginning of its reign - it occupied the US Embassy in Tehran, taking 66 Americans hostage and holding 52 of them for 444 days. Any one of these incidents could be considered a declaration of war on the part of Iran.

Furthermore, the regime has publicly declared its intent to use nuclear weapons to destroy Israel and the US, calling the Jewish State the little satan and America the big satan. This reality, combined with past attacks and the fact that Iranian leaders regularly chant "Death to Israel" and "Death to America," indicates that for all practical purposes, Iran was already at war with the US. Therefore, it was in the interest of national security for the US to join Israel's efforts to destroy Iran’s nuclear sites - especially since America has capabilities Israel does not!  

Unfortunately, this understanding of history and current facts on the ground is NOT reflected in what you see and hear from legacy media, which for the most part, takes every opportunity to libel the Jewish State.

Within hours of the US strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, MSNBC employed classic antisemitic tropes about Jewish power in its discussion of those actions. CAMERA sent an alert Sunday morning, June 22, to notify our members and ask them to write MSNBC about what was nothing more than a stereotypical allegation that Jews control the world. For the benefit of those of you who may not be on the mailing list for CAMERA Alerts, we are including the entire alert so you may also have the opportunity to write to MSNBC.

Here is the content from Sunday morning’s alert:

“MSNBC wasted no time deploying antisemitic tropes in its coverage of US actions. In an appearance beginning at 9:43 PM, Ayman Mohyeldin delivered the following diatribe that passed for analysis of the situation:
And I think Donald Trump tonight, by going into this war, and there are questions about the legality of it, and there’s even questions about whether he knew that this was going to happen. And I’ll say this really quickly about that. There were questions as to whether or not Israel dog walked the ... Israeli Prime Minister dog walked President Trump into this war. And what I mean by that is, President Trump campaigned that he was not going to get involved in war. He talked just the day or two before this war began, about how he wanted to give diplomacy a chance. And if you take a step back and see what really happened here, Donald Trump was either in on this ruse by the Prime Minister, meaning he was going to go along with what was happening with an attack on Iran, but he was lying to the American people by coming out saying, hey, I want to give diplomacy a chance, I campaigned on not starting a war. And at the same time, he was completely unaware of what Israel was going to do, and that the Israeli prime minister potentially was running circles around him because he saw, hey, this is a President of the United States that was either incompetent or weak or indecisive. I’m going to launch this war against Iran, knowing that at some point, the political pressure domestically among Republicans, supporters of Israel and their base are going to put this pressure on the President to get involved on behalf of Israel. So in either way you look at it, President Donald Trump either was lying to the American public when he was telling us directly he wanted to give diplomacy a chance. So he was part of the deception of what Israel was going to do, or he didn’t know what Israel was going to do and was ultimately being goaded and dog walked by the Prime Minister of Israel into this war.

In reality, President Trump said dozens of times during his campaign, during his transition, and during the first months of this presidency that Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon. From June 24, 2023 when he said, “You cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. You cannot let it happen because bad things will happen if that happens,” to June 11, 2025 when he said, “They can’t have a nuclear weapon. Very simple. They can’t have a nuclear weapon. We’re not going to allow that,” President Trump’s message has been consistent.
 
The idea that the Prime Minister of Israel could manipulate or “dog-walk” any President of the US is based on nothing more than antisemitic tropes about Jewish power.
 
The widely-accepted International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism specifies “manifestations might include the targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity.” The examples of contemporary antisemitism include “making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as ... the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions.”
 
Mohyeldin’s commentary that the Israeli Prime Minister may be “dog-walking” the American President fits squarely within this.”

How to Take Action (copied from CAMERA’s Alert)

You have more of an impact when you share your thoughts in your own words. Please use the information included here as background for your letter instead of cutting and pasting from the Alert. Also, please never forward any Alert to the media. 

Please write to MSNBC and its parent company NBC Universal:
• Write to NBC’s Senior Director of News Standards, Shirley Zilberstein at shirley.zilberstein@nbcuni.com
 
• Copy the Chairman of the NBCU Newsgroup, Cesar Conde, at cesar.conde@nbcuni.com
 
• Copy MSNBC President Rebecca Kutler at rebecca.kutler@nbcuni.com and her assistant Kira Wales at Kira.Wales@nbcuni.com (We are aware that Ms. Kutler is currently on vacation and her email is generating an autoresponse. We assume that at a time like this she is monitoring her email regardless.) 

Firmly but courteously make the following points:

• Mohyeldin’s commentary that the Israeli Prime Minister may be “dog-walking” the American President fits squarely within the widely-accepted International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism.
 
• The definition specifies “manifestations might include the targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity.” The examples within that definition include “making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as ... the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions.”
 
• Let MSNBC know this type of commentary is unacceptable.

• Be on the lookout for this trope, that Israel is controlling the US, to pop up in other venues as well.

Please send blind copies (bcc) to letters@camera.org
 
Update on Hostages Still Held in Gaza

News about Israel's war in Gaza has been somewhat eclipsed in the last ten days since Operation Rising Lion began in Iran. However, Israel is still actively engaged in Operation Gideon’s Chariots to completely defeat Hamas and rescue all remaining hostages, living and dead. 

This past weekend, the IDF recovered the bodies of three more hostages in Gaza. A joint IDF and ISA announcement states:

"In a special operation carried out by the ISA and the IDF, the bodies of the hostages Ofra Keidar, Yonatan Samerano, and Staff Sergeant Shay Levinson were recovered from the Gaza Strip yesterday (Saturday).

Ofra Keidar, a member of Kibbutz Be’eri, was brutally murdered and abducted from the kibbutz on October 7, 2023, by Hamas terrorists. Ofra, who was 71 at the time of her death, was a mother of three and the wife of Shmuel Keidar, who was also murdered by Hamas terrorists in their home in Be’eri.

Yonatan Samerano was brutally murdered and abducted from Kibbutz Be’eri on October 7, 2023, by Hamas terrorists, including a UNRWA employee, after fleeing the Nova music festival. Yonatan was 21 years old at the time of his death.

Staff Sergeant Shay Levinson, a tank commander in the “Oz” (77) Battalion, engaged and fought terrorists on the morning of October 7 and fell in combat. He was then abducted by Hamas terrorists. Shay was 19 years old when he fell.

The rescue operation was conducted by the ISA and IDF troops of the Southern Command and the Gaza Division."

There are now 50 hostages left, and the IDF vows to return all of them. 20-22 of them are believed to still be alive and 28 are known to be dead. The living need to come home so they can be restored to health and have the opportunity to rebuild their lives. The murdered need to come home so they can receive a proper burial in the land of Israel.