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Bruce Pearl said President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have his full unconditional support in their war against Iran.
“They have my support and my prayers, and I’m grateful for their courage,” the legendary former Auburn men’s basketball coach and president of the US Israel Education Association told Pakinomist Digital.
As the US and Israelis continue to conduct a joint military operation against Iran after eliminating the Ayatollah, Pearl admits he is anxious about what comes next, especially as it relates to potential US and Israeli causalities.
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Former Auburn Tigers head basketball coach Bruce Pearl walks the court before a game between Auburn and the Texas A&M Aggies at Kyle Field. (Troy Taormina/Imagn Images)
Pearl has several friends and family members in Israel as Iran carries out its counterattack, and six US service members have already been confirmed killed since the violence started.
Pearl blamed former presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden for agreeing to deals that resulted in the economy going to Iran over the past decade-plus.
“I think President Obama was well-intentioned, but his decision was expensive and wrong,” Pearl said. “He funded the terrorists who rebuilt Hezbollah, who rebuilt Hamas, who rebuilt the Houthis. The U.S. government is partly responsible for financing Iran’s war and terror.
“President Trump doesn’t want war, but he also doesn’t want to look the other way and let Iran terrorize the Middle East, which they did. And then what does President Biden do? He comes in and he reverses all the policies that President Trump passed, and he goes back to defunding Iran and treating them like a normal country. And all they did was defund terrorist weapons, rebuild their weapons.”
The Obama administration transferred $1.7 billion in cash to Iran in 2016 to settle a 1979 arms conflict, while the Biden administration released $10 to $16 billion in frozen Iranian oil funds as part of a prisoner swap and humanitarian trade in 2023. The funds were Iranian assets frozen overseas but not known to be U.S. taxpayer funds.
Pearl told Pakinomist Digital that he is angry about Iran’s aggression against America in recent decades.
“Iran is the greatest enemy of the world since Adolf Hitler. They have been this country’s No. 1 enemy since 1979. They have killed more Americans than any other country in the world. So what I would say to America, we did not start this war. Iran has declared war on us for a long, long time and they have killed our citizens,” Pearl said.
“They sponsored, funded and gave the green light to Hamas to commit the atrocities of October 7th. And 46 Americans died. Innocent Americans died that way at the hands of Hamas, which was part of Iran’s proxies. It makes me angry. It makes me angry as an American. And I’m glad this president is doing something about it.”
Pearl, the president of the US Israel Education Association, recalled witnessing the deaths of people he was close to because of violence in the Middle East.
“I know hostage families who have lost their lives. I know Israeli friends who have lost sons and daughters. I have known Americans who have lost family members in Lebanon in 1982, in the barracks and also fighting the wars in Iraq,” he said.
Since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, Pearl said he has met anti-Israel protesters in America.
The pro-Palestinian movement in the United States has evolved into one of the country’s largest and most sustained waves of protest triggered by a foreign event in modern history.
Within just two weeks of the first attack on Oct. 7, the movement quickly expanded from early vigils to 420 rallies across 46 states, according to the Harvard University Ash Center. By November of that year, the burst of activity had solidified into a sustained national wave wider than any previous pro-Palestinian movement in American history, especially on college campuses.
Now that America and Israel are waging war against Iran, potentially inflaming the pro-Palestinian movement in the United States, Pearl has a message for these protesters.
“If you want to protest, you have to understand what you are protesting for. I ask you the question. Are women free in Israel or are they free inside Gaza? Do they come to Israel, do they get to go to education, college, school, live a normal, incredible life like any other human being, or are they subject to Sharia law? How can you protest for that? You said to protest for their Iranian people?
“How is it possible that on October 8, 9 or 10, just days after 46 Americans were assassinated and 1,200 people were killed and 250 were held hostage, how is it possible that college students protested to free Palestine from the river to the sea and supported Hamas? Free Palestine from the river to the sea means either free us from Palestine or the Jews will kill us from the river. us.”
Many Americans have been trapped in Israel since the counterattacks began. This includes at least three American women’s basketball players.
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South Carolina women’s basketball coach Dawn Staley has led a public effort to bring them home.
Pearl, who admitted he has not heard about those players’ situations, said “when the airspace is safe, they will be able to go home.”
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