[News] Why Israel is Pushing for Regime Change in Venezuela through Washington

[Anti-Imperialist News]

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Why Israel is Pushing for Regime Change in Venezuela through WashingtonDecember
13, 2025
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President of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

*By Robert Inlakesh
<https://www.palestinechronicle.com/writers/robert-inlakesh>*

Washington’s pro-Israel think tanks, like the Foundation for Defense of
Democracies, are pumping out articles groveling over the prospect of
controlling the nation’s oil.

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 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.

*(The Palestine Chronicle)*


*– Robert Inlakesh is a journalist, writer, and documentary filmmaker. He
focuses on the Middle East, specializing in Palestine. He contributed this
article to The Palestine Chronicle. *
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