Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator
Senator Lindsey Graham, 1955-2026, died on July 12, shortly after returning home from a trip to Kyiv on July 10, where he met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Graham had promised Zelenskyy continued U.S. support for Ukraine, and promoted a new increased sanctions bill against Russia. It is not known if the persistent corruption accusations in the Zelenskky government were discussed.
Graham was one of the last Republicans committed to the defeat of Russia at any cost, except that of U.S. lives. He supported America fighting Russia, on Ukrainian soil, and using Ukrainian soldiers as mercenaries. To appeal to U.S. President Donald Trump’s business instincts, Graham proposed insisting on Ukrainian rare earth minerals as a condition for American aid.
Scott Ritter is a former U.S. Marine Corps intelligence officer and United Nations weapons inspector who served in Iraq during the 1990s. In a video released on July 12, Ritter describes how the conflict in Ukraine has entered a most dangerous phase.
The Republican party generally has repositioned itself in an “America First” ideology, no longer wanting to blindly support wars abroad which drain the American treasury while American taxpayers and voters are demanding accountability and assistance.
But, Graham continued to beat the war drums, as did his former colleague, the late Senator John McCain. Those two long serving U.S. Senators were responsible for selling more U.S. made weapons than others in Congress.
Graham was a typical American Neocon, who believed the U.S. should use its unmatched military and economic might to project its values globally and neutralize threats before they occur. This is part of the reason Graham supported the unprovoked attack on Iran by the U.S. and Israel, which killed school girls.
Graham entered Congress in 1995 and served first in the House, and then as a Senator from 2003 until death. For 31 years, Graham worked on Capitol Hill promoting U.S. wars abroad and the interests of a foreign government, Israel.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the U.S. media, “America has lost a great patriot. Israel has lost one of the great champions of the American-Israeli alliance. And frankly, I’ve lost a beloved friend who I’ve had for many decades.”
Throughout his political career, he was a staunch defense hawk who repeatedly called for heavy U.S. and Israeli military intervention, including airstrikes to destroy Iran’s nuclear infrastructure and support for regime change.
In 2015, Graham was urging President-elect Donald Trump to attack Iran with military force targeting Tehran’s nuclear program.
In 2015, Graham gave an interview concerning the possibility of a military conflict between Iran and the United States, and discussed the state of the U.S. alliance with Israel.
“But here’s one thing I believe they don’t doubt; that Israel, if they had to, would. And the question for us is if Israel decided to engage militarily to stop what they perceive to be a breakout, what would we do?
I think it’s in our national security interest to let the Iranians know that we would be with Israel, because the Ayatollahs will have to recalculate. They know they cannot withstand an assault from America; that their regime survivability would be in question. They probably calculated they could withstand an Israeli attack.”
But, Graham miscalculated. He thought an attack on Iran from the U.S. would dissolve the government and Iranians would be greeting the Yankee soldiers on the streets of Tehran with roses.
Netanyahu had been close friends with Graham during all his years on Capitol Hill, and Graham had been supported financially by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the powerful Israeli lobby.
Graham accepted money from pro-Israel political action committees and donors affiliated with the pro-Israel lobby, and he received over $1 million from the pro-Israel industry category, with AIPAC-affiliated PACs and board members contributing to his campaigns and affiliated super PACs.
“Give Israel the bombs they need to end the war. They can’t afford to lose,” Graham declared. He suggested nuking Gaza, “When we were faced with destruction as a nation after Pearl Harbor, fighting the Germans and the Japanese, we decided to end the war by the bombing [of] Hiroshima [and] Nagasaki with nuclear weapons. That was the right decision.”
Graham insisted on supplying Israel with unrestricted military aid, including the use of devastating weaponry, with disregard for the humanitarian consequences such actions would have on the civilian population of Gaza, and in the face of Genocide.
Lindsey Graham’s staunch support for Israel was rooted in his belief that a secure and sovereign Jewish state was vital to United States national security. He disregarded the fact that the American core values of freedom and equality for all are diametrically opposed in Israel, which holds as their dearest national core value the promotion of a racist Apartheid state.
Graham was widely known as a staunch American evangelical Christian and a fervent supporter of Israel, which aligns with the principles of Christian Zionism. In 2013, Graham spoke at the Christians United for Israel Washington Summit, while fanning the flames of Religious Nationalism.
The corrupt regime in Kyiv might be wondering if their paychecks will be less after Graham has died, but Tel Aviv will be confident their support from Washington will never falter.
Steven Sahiounie is a two-time award-winning journalist.
