Joe Kent’s resignation from President Donald Trump’s counterterrorism team is fueling a Republican fight over the Iran war and talk about Israel that critics call antisemitic. On Wednesday, Kent went on Tucker Carlson’s podcast and said Israel drove the decision to strike Iran. Kent also hinted at conspiracy claims about conservative activist Charlie Kirk’s death. The Republican Jewish Coalition and others warn the rhetoric echoes classic antisemitic tropes. Trump has stayed quiet on Kent’s comments about Israel. The split is widening in right-wing media, too. Ben Shapiro is blasting Carlson, while Megyn Kelly and Mark Levin trade insults as pro-war and anti-war voices clash.

The Trump counterterrorism official who resigned Tuesday had been a staunch supporter of the president through his 2020 election defeat, the Jan. 6 riots and years of conservative media advocacy and failed congressional bids. But the president's war in Iran and his alliance with Israel against the Islamic clerics who led the Tehran government were too much for Joe Kent. Kent's resignation deprives Trump of a once-staunch ally and also highlights the former Army Green Beret's previous ties to antisemitism and right-wing extremism. Kent had 11 combat tours, mostly in Iraq, but became an opponent of U.S. interventionism after his wife was killed in Syria in 2019.