Lindsey Graham’s hawkish Middle East legacy shaped Israel ties and Iran strikes

Lindsey Graham spent more than two decades in the Senate making Israel and Iran the center of his foreign policy, even as the Republican electorate around him moved toward less appetite for prolonged Middle East wars. The South Carolina Republican, elected in 2002 and serving until his death on July 11, 2026, remained one of Washington’s most forceful advocates for using American military power overseas.

In 2025, he warned that if America “pulls the plug” on Israel, God would “pull the plug” on the United States. He also argued that the American position in the Middle East had been badly weakened by the 2021 withdrawal from Afghanistan, and in June 2025 he pressed for backing Israeli strikes on Iran if diplomacy failed, saying Israel should be helped to “finish the job.”

In June 2025, Graham and Sen. Tom Cotton defended President Donald Trump’s U.S. strikes on Iran. Graham had long built a reputation as an ardent proponent of isolating Tehran and curbing its ballistic missile and nuclear programs.

In March 2025, Gallup found that sympathy for Israelis had fallen to 46 percent, while sympathy for Palestinians rose to 33 percent, the lowest level of sympathy for Israelis in 25 years. In July 2025, Gallup found that only 32 percent of Americans backed Israel’s military action in Gaza. AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research polling that year found about half of Americans said Israel’s military response in Gaza had gone too far, up from 40 percent in November 2023.

Graham’s line also drew backlash inside Republican politics, including from some MAGA-aligned figures who questioned the costs of new military entanglements. Other Senate Republicans, including Cotton, echoed his support for strikes.

After Graham’s death, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised him as a close friend of Israel. Netanyahu said Graham had refused to accept ending U.S. military aid to Israel in one of their final conversations.