(José Niño, Headline USA) A popular YouTuber known for his gun advocacy has ended his role as a state director for Gun Owners of America, leaving followers speculating whether his skepticism of Israel cost him his role.
Gun YouTuber Iraqveteran8888, whose real name is Eric Blandford, was GOA’s Georgia State Director until last Tuesday, when he was apparently relieved of his position. Blandford was originally brought on board by GOA on May 23, 2022.
His departure from GOA has raised speculation as to why he is no longer working with the pro-gun lobby.
Several of his followers on X/Twitter, believe that he parted ways with GOA owing to his commentary about Israel.
Thomas C. Leager, a former Senate candidate for Wisconsin, exclaimed on X, “@GunOwners have officially sold out. Eric @Iraqveteran8888 had a huge audience WAYYYYY before Gun Owners of America. He will after.”
@GunOwners have officially sold out. Eric @Iraqveteran8888 had a huge audience WAYYYYY before Gun Owners of America. He will after. https://t.co/ksAw2If3t2
— Thomas C. Leager (@ThomasCLeager) April 9, 2025
When Headline USA editor Ken Silva inquired about Blandford’s apparent firing, Leager responded, “They got the call and distanced themselves from @Iraqveteran8888 because he asked questions about the “chosen people” on his X Acct.”
Comments from a now-deleted Reddit thread have also mentioned that Blandford has experienced a difficult divorce and has been frequently posting content about Jewish and Israeli influence — something that has alarmed several of his followers. .
One reddit user observed, “Eric has been crashing out hard on X. Seemingly after his divorce? I dont know nor do I care — but the man has been posting about jews nearly 24/7 for I dont know how long. I thought to myself a week ago like – damn I cant believe GOA hasn’t dropped him yet. This was the least surprising thing ever.”
While there is no smoking gun confirming his anti-Israel commentary as the precipitating factor behind the termination of his relationship with GOA, Blandford has a notable history of Israeli skeptic commentary.
Since Hamas’ attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, a sharp and unprecedented divide has emerged within conservative media over the value of the United States’ alliance with Israel.
Blandford himself recorded a YouTube video titled “Firing Back with Erich Pratt #1: ‘The Israeli Situation'” where he discusses Israel with GOA Senior Vice President Erich Pratt. This video was originally published on October 15, 2023, on the heels of the October 7 attacks.
In the video, Eric took a more neutral tone and expressed sympathy for Israelis affected by violence, characterizing the situation as “extremely emotional” and noting that “war is extremely terrible.” He described the Hamas attacks as a situation where “people came across the border started shooting people up” and states that Israelis were “caught off guard.”
During the conversation with Pratt, Blandford highlighted the contrast between Israeli and U.S. gun control policies, noting that following the Hamas attacks, the Israeli government began to “slash their gun control laws” and started “handing out machine guns to their citizens.”
Blandford expressed solidarity with the Israelis saying they are “like us in a lot of ways” and that “they want to live free and they want to be safe just like any other person.” He acknowledges that Israelis “live in a very hostile place with people all around them that hate them.”
However, Blandford’s comments on Israel have taken a more critical tone since 2024.
In one post he published on October 18, 2024, Blandford argued that various nations and organizations such as Hamas, Israel, the United States, Russia, and Ukraine, have all committed serious violations such as war crimes or crimes against humanity.
Hamas has committed crimes against humanity.
Israel has committed war crimes.
The United States have committed war crimes.
Russia has committed war crimes.
Ukraine has committed war crimes.All War is a crime. The only difference is the winner gets to not suffer the…
— Iraqveteran8888 (@Iraqveteran8888) October 18, 2024
In a similar vein, Blandford made a post on October 23, 2024 highlighting the actions of the aforementioned state and non-state actors pointing out that these entities have been responsible for significant violence, including the deaths of children.
He argued that political efforts to restrict personal firearms overlook the broader issue of violence perpetrated by powerful groups. The post critiques what the Blandford perceives as a flawed moral stance by certain political factions, advocating instead for the right to personal defense through firearm ownership
Israel has killed more children than any AR-15 ever will. So has Hamas, Ukraine, Russia, etc. The world is full of killers. Yet the political answer to violence always seems to be to disarm the very people who refuse to be victims and can take care of themselves. The left has a…
— Iraqveteran8888 (@Iraqveteran8888) October 23, 2024
In the middle of March, when Donald Trump authorized the United States military to carry out a series of air strikes against the Houthis in Yemen, Blandford raised the question of whether Israeli influence was driving the decision
At the start of April, the gun YouTuber began to increase his anti-Israel posts. In one post, Blandford questioned the validity of the United States’ alliance with Israel.
Name one thing Israel has done for us that makes them our “Greatest Ally”.
— Iraqveteran8888 (@Iraqveteran8888) April 1, 2025
Blandford also published a post requesting clarification for certain passages in the Talmud that he finds perplexing or troubling.
The Talmud, a central text in Rabbinic Judaism, is made up of a vast collection of discussions and interpretations of Jewish law, ethics, customs, and history. Some passages have been sources of controversy.
Explain all the crazy shit in the Talmud in a way that doesn’t make me feel like an entire subset of people who claim to be our friends aren’t bat shit crazy and evil. It’s a legitimate search for answers. Enlighten me. I’ll wait. 💁🏻♂️
— Iraqveteran8888 (@Iraqveteran8888) April 2, 2025
Five days before his exit from GOA, Blandford asked his Twitter followers if there is any other political figure outside of Rep. Thomas Massie, R-KY, who is not “in bed with Israel.”
The string of anti-Israel posts he published apparently got numerous people to privately message Blandford about the pivot in his commentary. Despite these messages of concern, Blandford stressed that he would not change his stance on Israel unless he was presented with truly compelling and indisputable evidence to the contrary.
Curiously, the day before Blandford and GOA parted ways, the firearms personality posted a satirical “Dying for Israel Risk Index” on his X account.
— Iraqveteran8888 (@Iraqveteran8888) April 7, 2025
Shortly afterwards, he published a series of posts condemning Israel’s punitive campaign in Gaza, focusing on the high number of civilian casualties it has inflicted.
Imagine being okay with killing women and children.
— Iraqveteran8888 (@Iraqveteran8888) April 7, 2025
According to figures from the Gaza Health Ministry, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have killed close to 51,000 Palestinians, with nearly 116,000 others wounded.
These final posts may have been the tipping point that ultimately led GOA to sever its ties with Blandford.
After his departure from GOA, Blandford has continued criticizing Zionist interest groups. In response to a tweet published by conservative commentator Candace Owens, he highlighted that the Zionist lobby has been losing the public relations battle for millennia, and only now is the mainstream beginning to acknowledge it.
They have been losing the PR campaign for over 2,000 years. It’s just taking this long for people to start talking about it in the mainstream. https://t.co/5gxaI4RQDR
— Iraqveteran8888 (@Iraqveteran8888) April 11, 2025
Headline USA has reached out to Blandford and GOA for comment, but has not received any response thus far.
As Headline USA has previously covered, there appears to be a concerted effort by several Zionist organizations and conservative media personalities to discredit and suppress the voices of right-wing critics of Israel.
Since Israel launched its military campaign against Hamas following the October 7 attacks, a range of conservative figures — including Candace Owens, Tucker Carlson, and even social media personalities like former MMA fighter Jake Shields and Dan Bilzerian — have openly criticized Israel’s actions.
This has likely prompted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hold a private meeting with conservative influencers such as Tim Pool to discuss this anti-Israel trend, which appears to be growing on the Right.
In a movement long defined by loyalty to guns, God, and country, Blandford’s case poses a provocative question: Is Israel now the third rail of the American Right?
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino.
