Yoiks! There is so much wrong here it is hardly possible to scratch the surface with 1500 characters. Let's start by saying I'm a Jew - because as is so awfully obvious, you don't get to have an opinion in this little world, "Jewish democracy", unless you can make that statement.
Of course, "Jewish democracy" is a complete oxymoron. The modern, Western democracy is based on the principle of the separation of church and state. The fact that Israel is "Jewish" means that it is necessarily not a democracy. The idea that we are talking about "democracy" in Israel is completely misleading.
The other reality of labelling a country "Jewish" is that it makes the government of that country inherently "racist" - although I can't say I know what the word "Jewish" means anymore, I do know that anyone who calls himself "Palestinian" doesn't quality as "Jewish" (even if they are Jewish, I bet.) Neither of the two are actually races - but you get my drift.
In order for this election to be about democracy in Israel, you would need to be talking about one party having as policy the reversal of the horrendous decision to make the government of Israel "Jewish". That doesn't appear to be on the cards, so this isn't really about democracy at all - this is really about Netanyahu and the Israeli Right against the rule of law.
Whatever happens, the big issue is actually what happens in Israel when Trump nukes Iran in January. The Israelis know that's coming, which is why Bibi is going to win.
25
Tom has given us the image in the mirror and how dangerous that picture is. What is absolutely amazing to me is how Bibi and Trump make it look like that depiction is different from the one right in front of our eyes. And how little resistence there is from their own side to that. If Trump and Bibi supporters can't be convinced they are heading down a very dangerous road, what's a country to do? Do these folks need to see for themselves how wrong this is? Or will the stage be set for an even more dangerous leader because the dream was not quite fulfilled and 'trailblazing' leaders were prematurely ousted? We all need to remember the conditions that 'created' Bibi and Trump not only won't be addressed, they will be worsened by their policies. Are we building the gas chambers of the 21st century so we can have them ready when they are 'needed'? Or do we stop construction before the cornerstone is laid in place?
44
With sympathetic respect as a non Jew though admirer of so many Jews I love, this article is not saying anything that had not been obvious since the beginning of Trump. Why now is this coming out when it should have been nipped at the bud? We love Israel, we love the Palestinians, we find it hard to understand why we must suffer Trump.
8
Please stop the breathless, pearl-clutching “threat to democracy” rhetoric. It is insulting to your readers.
11
This piece ignores the realities on the ground and the passions that drive them. There are no good choices for Israel in dealing with the Palestinians. The raison d'etre of the Palestinian national movement is Israel's annihilation. That involves the return of the "Arab refugees" who left Israel in 1948 expecting to return after the short war of extermination against the Jews. It didn't work out that way, buy the PA and Hamas haven't changed their goals. Friedman also omits Palestinian internal tensions. Abbas will soon be dead and a civil war between the PA and Hamas is inevitable, one Hamas would likely win except the IDF will intervene. Control of the high ground on the West Bank is a strategic necessity for Israel as anyone who can read a map understands. This curious article also sees the feckless Barak as potential savior. He made one significant contribution to Israel's security, and that in spite of himself. The risible Oslo Process resulted in a solution which would have shared Jerusalem with the Palestinians and given them 94 percent of the West Bank. The Palestinians still refused. Barak unintentionally smoked them out, showing nothing short of Israel's disappearance is acceptable. Friedman lives far from the struggle where he can expostulate on the grand issues of morality and law. It's an excellent place from which to tut-tut and advise the Jews to commit suicide. Buy history has taught them to beware advice from the deracinated.
19
Why is democracy only under threat when liberals lose elections, LOL?
9
What Medelblit, the Attorney General in February is reported to have published or written about Netanyahu seems to be so apt for the current occupant of the White House.
‘You have hurt the image of public service and public faith in it. You acted in a conflict of interest, you abused your authority while taking into account other considerations that relate to your personal interest and the interests of your family. You corrupted public servants working under you’.
There none the GOP who is patriot enough to comment so eloquently about Trump. The GOP is now made up gaping sycophants and hypnotized votaries of Trump
Cry for the beloved country
9
Trump shares Bibi's hatred for Iran but for very different reasons. Trump only likes Israeli's who support him--Jewish-American voters mostly don't! But Sheldon Adelman and his ilk do. But Trump knows that the Saudis' greatest enemy is Iran and Trump wants to sell billions of dollars worth of weapons to the Saudis. So, if it means withdrawing from a Nuclear Accord that was working, that was favored by our allies and co-signed by them, Trump would happily move unilaterally. He thinks his foreign policy is like everything else he does---superior, without parallel, brilliant, unique. Of course, he is mentally deranged.
6
Israel has 9 million citizens, it is 76 % Jewish
Out of the 9 million, 12% are currently Ultra Orthodox, with 55% or more under poverty line
I am calculating 15% of 7 million, perhaps it is more
Growth of Haridi population is expected to surpas 19% in 9 years
That translates to (one out of every 7) Jewish citizen today is Ultra Orthodox (with 55% under poverty line); and with the projected growth rate, the Ultra Orthodox will be one out of every 5 in ten years
The higher payed and tax supporting working population, according to recent statistics is no more than 160,000, and many of these people will emmigrate if the cost of living does not go down
The entire political game is around and surrounding this issue, not the geopolitics or army. Can Israel sustain this kind of population growth and the attending growth in poverty?
5
We had GWB's axis of evil, today we have trump's axis of fascists. The members are trump, himself, Bibi, Vlad and Kim Jung Un.
6
Every time I read an article by Friedman, I'm I'm sure I know the ending. It's sort of a literary ground hog day wrapped in some kind of warped view of good and evil. Israel bad, Palestinians good. Trump very bad and almost any Democrat very good. Tom, your stuff is getting really old. By the way Tom, did you watch the Democrat debate? Talk about threats to democracy.
10
To answer the headline, "Yes."
32
Trump and Bibi; peas in a pod. They are both threat to their own countries and rest of the world.
11
“Toute nation a le gouvernement qu’elle merite.” True for both countries.
2
Oh, i have been questioning the public school system in Israel since Netnanyahu was elected the first time.
But something strange happens in the world when Americans elect a conservative. After Nixon, Reagan. W and Trump, the rest of the world fell off the reactionary edge.
When America -- the capital of finance, music, film, greed, bad food and diamond cat collars -- goes all conservative, that gives license for European, Asian, South American and African nations to give it a try. After all, what good is a progressive liberal when negotiating (anything) with a far right U.S. president?
So, i predict if we elect a real lefty, the world will follow. It's our sorry lot in life to lead insignificant trends in the world.
3
Demography and world opinion will ensure that Israel and the West Bank will become a single, binational state next generation or so. If a far-right Bibi coalition annexes large parts of the West Bank into Israel proper, that will only accelerate the process.
2
It appears that we do not have that far to fall. The British Ambassador had to resign for telling the truth about Trump.. Trump seems ably to get away with any thing fi this continues we are doomed.
7
Bibi may be a bigger threat to what is left of Israeli democracy than Trump is to what is left of American democracy. We still have farther to fall.
But if America's democracy falls, it will land with a MUCH bigger shock to the world's remaining democracies.
So despite Bibi's best efforts to destroy Israel's democracy, Trump remains the biggest threat to democracy worldwide. It's not even close. #winning.
380
But for the fact that Netanyahu Israel has steered the USA into the Yemen war, into an unprecedented alliance with MBS and Saudi Arabia, into finally withdrawing from the Iran “deal”. Only Netanyahu and MBS and the Trump Administration characterize Iran as the master of terrorists Al Qaeda, ISIS, and Boka Haram, while they are arch enemies of Iran and Shiites, and Wahhabi Sunnis. While Netanyahu is chummy with Putin, Trump reports to Putin and was aided in his election by Putin. Netanyahu has not applauded Kim or Duterte nor can Netanyahu arm and aid Saudi Arabia, the source of global terrorism, nor does Netanyahu threaten NATO. Bibi is a shameless thug and the source of resentment and hatred of Israel who has survived because he has wrapped his personal fortunes in the lie that criticizing Netanyahu and his government is anti-Semitic. Netanyahu and Trump are bad actors but Bibi is hardly the paragon of Judaism any more than Trump is a Christian. Neither man is helping their country democracy or humanity.
30
Trump for one simple reason. The USA is a bigger, more powerful democracy. One has to admit though the Democrats are helping him along by preaching socialism.
I doubt the average citizen wants socialism. Instead they want Controlled Capitalism, vintage the 1960's and 1970's. No one is spending much time discussing why we got here. Two major reasons are Citizens United and gerrymandering.
Citizens United replaced "one man, one vote" with "many dollars, many votes". Our system is corrupt. We need to get back to "Controlled Capitalism" ... https://lstrn.us/2CORkXF
6
Bibi is a bigger threat to Israel than Trump is to the US, but it is close.
The difference is that millions of people in the Middle East and elsewhere would be thrilled to see the Jewish state fail, because it is Jewish. ( And yes, I understand that this comment will be widely condemned by those opposed to Israel who swear no animus toward Jews. Understand, please, that I am not talking about you.)
However, despite the chaos and divisiveness and self-absorption wrought by Trump, millions of people around the world do not want to see the US fail. Such failure opens the door to authoritarianism nearly everywhere, which would inevitably lead to conflicts nearly everywhere.
The reason that it is a close call is that it is still not beyond possibility that Trump harbors a desire for his own authoritarian regime here. If he wins in 2020 and if the GOP continues to be his lap dog, he just may be able to establish his own coup and declare martial law. For that matter, if he loses in 2020, he may challenge the result and declare martial law. Who is going to stop him and how?
5
I would like to know: Does Putin have a dog in this Barak/Netanyahu fight? Is Russia interfering in Israel's election, as it does in Europe and the United States? We know that Trump's sympathies are always with the autocrat, so what is the American government doing to help tear Israel apart?
This sentence popped out at me: "The main barrier to this vision is [the nation's] world-class judicial system, free press and civil society. So the right wing has to emasculate them." That certainly does sound familiar to those of us living under Trump. As does this famous quotation from Goebbels, which perfectly describes the conditions in modern "banana republics," from the Middle East to Europe to North America in 2019:
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie. It thus becomes vitally important for the State to use all of its powers to repress dissent, for the truth is the mortal enemy of the lie, and thus by extension, the truth is the greatest enemy of the State.”
5
"By the way, my fellow Americans, do many elements of this story have a familiar ring to you?"
Why yes. "Game of Thrones", right?
Thomas,
I keep hearing that Israel has to decide whether to make a choice between democracy and ruling the West Bank. The truth is, they made that choice a long time ago. To anyone who says that decision hasn't been finalized, ask yourself this: Under what scenario will they withdraw from region? How will they resettle the 800,000 settlers living there; settlers who, btw, are militantly determined to stay? And the buildings? And the vast infrastructure of those settlers, what will happen to it? It can't be moved but something like it will be needed in Israel proper to support this huge influx of "unsettled" people.
It can't be done. Not by a Barak government or any Israel government. The best that can be hoped for is that the Palestinians be given full civil rights in the single state of Israel-Palestine. But before this can even be contemplated, corrupt Netanyahu needs to be removed from office.
5
Humans love dualities, but this is not an either/or situation.Each of these men presents a threat to his own country---and to each other's.
They are both poisoning democracy,promulgating wars of choice, and trampling on human rights. Kids in cages/kids being shot and arrested. Refugees vilified and imprisoned in both countries.The Wall.
None of this is particularly new but they are pursuing it in brazen ways.
It will not end well.
5
The key difference is that Bibi overtly presents his case as a religious battle for the future of a small and persecuted people. He argues that an existential threat requires subversion of democracy. Trump never presents a clear argument for why democracy should be subverted. Trump lies to his followers and relies on their ignorance and inability to parse events. He then uses his power to enrich himself and a few other Americans.
Many Jewish Israelis, say 70%, have their family history in either Arab countries or the Soviet Union. These people are acculturated to fear severe oppression. They fear that a change in the power structure could return them to the status their grandparents told them about. There is no similar force in American politics. Our wildly mistreated minorities are more in the 25% range and largely see democracy as a protection. Although there does seem to be strong identity politicsmamong poor Americans, identity politics are the norm in Israel, across demographic groups. Of course there really are regional leaders seeking nuclear annihilation of Israel. That's a pretty big difference.
Israel is more or less a collection of middle eastern and Soviet Jews with 20% European and Americans sprinkled in. The electorate has some fear that stable democracy will not persist and seems to be preparing itself for the next step.
It is totally unclear why Americans support the end of our democracy. Why Americans support dictators. Why Americans support Trump.
6
A Middle East peace plan from the Trump administration is very likely DOA, regardless of who wins this election. Does Mr. Friedman believe that Trump and company are viewed as nonpartisan brokers by any interested party?
1
The greatest threat to humanity (let alone Democracy) is this American President, because essentially he dictates foreign/Middle East policy and subsidizes all that goes on in the other country.
Furthermore this President can lock in Oligarchs and strongmen all around the world. (let alone Russia)
The American system depends on (within the Constitution) that there be good actors on all sides that may weigh any legal proof in removing the head of state, whereas it is much easier to do in the other. (which looks more probable)
To even offer a comparison really does a disservice.
35
@FunkyIrishman -- Mr. Friedman did not ask who is the greatest threat to humanity. Mr. Friedman asked who is the bigger threat to his own country's democracy. The point he was trying to make (and I believe he made his point convincingly) is that the USA would survive even four more years of Donald Trump better than Israel will survive another Netanyahu-led ruling coalition.
79
@Boneisha
And that’s only because America has been around for 200 years as a constitutional Republic with all the checks and balances that the founding fathers put in place precisely to guard against someone so ‘inept’ and ‘self-serving’ as the current WH occupant.
Israel being a new democracy and a much smaller country surrounded by ‘foes’ is on a very unstable footing, and would have been even less so, sans USAID.
7
No one is s snookering the other in Israeli-US relations. Whether out of compulsion or just plain old natural affinity between birds of a feather, both Trump and Nethanuao are hungering for a closer embrace of each other. With corrupt, greedy and unscrupulous leaders in power on both sides, the rule of law has to be the first casualty, a Free Media the close second. With Trump and Kushner carrying on a Cash-N-Carry business right from the Oval Office, who do you think might be helping launder of the oil-soaked, dirty money?
1
YES!
1
Ultimately, Bibi is the bigger issue. Israel has lived an emotional youth, is still in it's teens and you know how teens can be mislead. It's a small place with substantial control by the central government where a single leader can stay in power for a generation
1
@Chris
Israel has 3000+ years of Jewish indigeneity and history behind them. Hardly a youth.
3
This column ignores one very essential fact. Wasn't it Barak who attempted to work with Bill Clinton to give the Palestinians their state? Weren't Clinton and Barak rebuffed by Arafat who went home and started the intifadah resulting in a great deal of violence and lost lives? What good did that do anyone? And how is any of that Netanyahu's fault? If people refuse to accept the country they claim to want, not once but over and over, why should it always be there for them, on the negotiating table, in perpetuity? And why are the Palestinians sacrosanct? Why are they more deserving of a country, for instance, than the Kurds? How come the Kurds are nobody's cause? The answer is because the Palestinians oppose Jews. Netanyahu is that fearsome Jewish face on the poster that Orwell described. The problem Friedman's column is that it pretends that the Palestinians have no role in this entire mess and that is simply not so.
4
They both are but Bibi probably more so. No term limits in Israel. Plus Bibi's party has never gotten much more than a quarter of the vote and yet he wields immense power over the political system that far outweighs his actual support. The American left is energized. The Israeli left is mostly emasculated.
1
The NYTimes asks us to hate Trump daily, and attack his supporters. We have government representatives calling for the physical attack of Republicans and all those working in the administration. We have the likes of AOC and others that are even more racist, calling for tearing down the US as we know it.
And now we're asked who is the bigger threat to democracy? I'd say the NYTimes, CNN, and Fox news and any outlet that lies to grab the attention of 'their' base, and attacks all who disagree as stupid racists. The NYTimes routinely slams the entire South, because they happen to have Reps and independents in office. My county went blue in 2018, but before that we were called stupid. Now we're smart. Really?
The far right AND the far left are both threats to democracy, in the US and in Israel (as well as other countries not discussed in this column). And because the media makes it's money off outraging emotion vs. journalism, they are complicit.
3
No way Trump listens to Ehud.
Why? Simple:
His name's Barak.
4
Netanyahu and trump (and his Repub sycophants in U.S. Congress)) must both be crushed in their next elections. How can so many people be so ignorant and fearful that they vote for these corrupt thugs and criminals? Time to build the future we all want and let these awful humans be powerful lessons for the future.
2
Wars have consequences. Perhaps the Arabs...themselves, the descendants of invaders, colonists, and economic migrants to a land not their own...should have considered the prospect of ‘losing’ before waging endless terror wars for the past 70+ years...and counting.
And since when do the Losers in wars they started get to dictate the terms of the peace to the victors? I’ll tell you when....Never!
6
Israel, a small nation of 7MM, becoming a dictatorial apartheid state, in the greater scheme of things, has little impact on world politic.
The world's military and economic super power becoming an authoritarian fascist dictatorship is far far far more dangerous by for the entire world and humanity in general let alone democracy.
2
I don't know about Israel but the United States stopped being a democracy two years ago.
69
Unfortunately the USA has given Israel too much support and money over the years and taken less interest in Palestinian rights. In fact the US has created the mess we are now seeing in that region of the globe by favoring one country over another.
3
@Jo Ann
Favoring one country over another? There’s only ONE country...Israel. ‘Palestine’ is not now, nor has it ever been, a country.
There could have been a country called Palestine, but the Arabs...themselves the descendants of invaders, occupiers, and economic migrants to a land not their own...rejected statehood (repeatedly) in favor of waging endless war. So...that’s what they got.
5
Answer to mainstream media know-nothings: Neither. Speaker Pelosi and the Democrats are the ones doing damage by doing nothing.
An opposition party that sees cynical profits; enables lawless evil instead of hindering it, as directed by our Constitution, is the biggest threat.
2
Why do large numbers of voters in Israel and the United States support these two amoral, corrupt, self-dealing narcissists?
Are these voters so comfortable in their own lives right now they don’t care beyond that?
Do hate and resentment of the “other” (never of the wealthy and powerful) juice their sense of superiority or feed their victimhood?
Do they really see these charlatans as doing God’s work by fueling hate and division, clamoring for war, and enriching themselves and their fellow oligarchs in the process?
Do they really believe these craven opportunists and manipulators will serve and protect them?
History is replete with ego-driven demagogues who always - always - bring destruction to their adherents and everyone else they impact. It’s just a matter of time.
To answer the question: both imperil their democracies and long term well-being of their societies, and both need to be voted out ASAP.
5
What is Thomas Friedman thinking? Bibi N. has no Middle East Peace Plan and certainly not one that includes Palestine. Trump has no Peace Plan and totally supports Netanyahu. Bibi and Donald have only a plan to attack Iran. They both seek to demolish the rule of law and wallow unfettered in their corruption.
117
Tom Friedman's assessment of Israel's state of affairs is both chilling and confirming. The evidence of Israel's demise as a democracy and instead a theocracy run by extremists has been leaking out and more recently, gushing out. Barak is the one remnant of those historic Israeli leaders with moral fiber and courage, now long gone.
Now I see how easily real democracy becomes fraudulent.
7
I wish we could be the ones having another election right now.
Put Kamala Harris on the ticket, and let's vote. We could use a smart woman who has experience in prosecuting cases - the sooner the better.
2
Hard to disagree. The only material omission is the reluctance of the Palestinian leadership to negotiate in good faith for a two state solution with any Israel government.
7
I was four years old when Israel was formed by David Ben Gurion and his compatriots.
By the time I was old enough to understand Israeli politics, I was a student at Kent State University demonstrating against Nixon and the American war in Vietnam.
After the seven days war in Israel I realized that the Palestinians were getting a raw deal and, despite disclaimers from the Israeli government, Palestine citizens were going to be gradually forced out of Israel while the world had its back turned.
I decided to visit Israel in 1986 to get an on the ground perception of what was really happening to the Palestinians. I stayed in Jerusalem and made an effort to speak to as many locals as possible.
It was not easy to get past the barrage of propaganda from the Israeli government about how fair they were to everyone, particularly the Palestinians.
In reality, I was observing at close hand the ongoing building program that was housing the new immigrants from around the world but particularly from America and France. This new housing was a plot to force more and more Palestinians out of the country by taking over their land.
Today we have the Israeli government being more open about their disregard for Palestinians, and the questionably corrupt prime minister trying to save his job at all costs.
Any American observers who still believe that Israel is a true democracy are blind to the obvious manipulations of Netanyahu and his like minded friend in the White House!
189
@Michael Kittle The truth is in that, that Palestinians did absolutely zero in order to organize themselves in any matter and to do anything, in order to improve their lives. Their elites, no matter who they are Arafat, Abu Mazen, Hamas or Jihad, whatsoever did anything to achieve neither any kind of descent live for people, nor for getting some kind of agreement with Israel. The latter did serious steps toward Palestinians at least twice. First in 1993 getting into a Oslo process, and second in 2005 with unilateral Gaza withdrawal. What it got in return? Stones, rocket and terror.
25
“Each of us has a choice between the State of Israel and the State of Netanyahu; between the shattering of Israeli democracy, intentional damage to the rule of law, the courts and the police; between the utter trampling of the Israeli government and solidarity — and the Jewish, democratic state that Israel needs…These are the darkest days we have known.”
Friedman is surely right when he suggests that most observers outside Israel itself have only the vaguest notion of the forces at play in this repeat election. My initial reaction as a casual viewer was that the redo seemed nearly farcical and probably of minor additional impact. Kudos to Friedman for clarifying the hidden subtexts and their profound implications.
Whatever the eventual outcome, Ehud Barak has done Israel a great service in setting forth the electoral choice in such starkly dramatic terms. No Israeli voter will be able to claim that he or she did not understand the historic consequences of this decision. Will it be enough? Who knows. In this benighted age mere truth alone seems incapable of defeating evil. Can democracy survive anywhere if truth cannot command respect?
As to whether the triumph of the corrupt populism of Bibi in 2019 would prove worse for Israel than a similar victory by Trump here in 2020, my guess is that Bibi's victory would be worse for Israel but Trump's worse for the world. The US has more durable constitutional safeguards, but the climate crisis urgently requires US participation.
215
In Israel, in the United State, and in the UK we see a similar drama unfolding. Historically strong governmental and political systems are electing really bad leaders. It's a deep paradox of democracy - at some point democracies elect anti-democratic leaders. It appears that democracy allows for the peaceful and orderly resolution of differing views _provided that_ there is enough shared viewpoint: either shared values, shared culture or shared external threat. Between the Israeli ultra Orthodox and the secular you have very little shared values or culture, only the necessarily manufactured common threat - but no agreement on the nature and appropriate response to that threat. An almost identical analysis applies to the US with respect to immigration and the UK with respect to Brexit. It looks like democracy breaks when society fragments, that democratic government cannot unify divided societies, but sufficiently unified societies can perhaps repair divided democracies. Unifying society requires great leaders, but unluckily we currently have a cast of characters dredged from the very bottom of the barrel.
251
@Paul Your analysis of what ails the three democracies you mentioned is correct, but I think you've cast far too wide a net with your final sentence. I have not given up hope that the Democratic Party will nominate a leader far more capable of uniting us than Trump.
18
@Paul Current developments make me wonder if Putin wasn't right in his demented strategy, based on his belief that western style Democracy will destroy itself as the citizens quarrel and fight over trivial issues. You know, the historic "rabble", who now have access to too much information, most of it trivial or untrue.
Our systems are still modeled on a form of gladiatorial combat, in which one victor emerges after a brutal fight. Cooperation, which is actually the only true source of supply humans have ever utilized, is not a part of the system. This could be our downfall.
15
@Paul
Wait a minute.
You forgot the part about how "diversity is strength"
1
It is a tie. They are both the main threat to each country’s version of democracy. Bibi is a more immediate threat. However, Democracy in the US has been under sustained threat for longer and so Trump has a softer target. The result is a tossup. If they each win reelection they will each finish the job of destroying the remainder.
159
Not only is Netanyahu a threat to Israel's Democracy, he is also a danger to the entire Middle East region.
-How much influence did Bibi have on the US decision to withdraw from the Nuclear Deal?
-How much influence did Bibi have on decision to relocate Israel's capital to Jerusalem?
-Bibi's stubborn, careless disregard to the Occupied Settlements
-Bibi's influence on now 'forgotten' Peace Plan
-Bibi's tactic, strategy or whatever we want to call - to develop an alliance with Saudi Arabia. This cafeless and opportunistic strategy to involve the US to go to war with Iran.
We all care for Israel, and the people. We respect the country's sovereignty. To preserve all that, Bibi may not be the right choice. He is a trouble maker.
48
@citizen
I agree with your comment. Bibi & Trump are very dangerous to democracy in Israel & the US. Trump has set up his fanatical followers to not accept the results of the 2020 election if he loses. Bibi will use fear & loathing to try and win the election. One must not forget that there are dark forces in Israel, the US, Russia, S Arabia that want Bibi to win. Bibi & Trump create their rules and follow their own impulses. If Bibi wins re-election I fear that Israel as
a democracy will continue to erode. Increasing settlements on the West Bank thus preventing a 2 state solution portends of a dark future. The vocal ultra religious Jews increasing in number & very strident in their definition of Judaism & a growing population of angry Palestinian youth living in one country is a recipe for disaster. The 2 state solution will not be a "cake walk". Dealing with Gaza alone is going to be near impossible. Israel needs to be secure & the Palestinians need a country in which they can have a future. Unfortunately at this time the administration in DC is not up to the task in bringing all sides to the table. Jared cannot do this for it is beyond his ability to comprehend the larger picture.
Hopefully Barak will win and Bibi's absolutism will no longer block solutions. Also a new administration in DC can field a State Dept that can bring the best people to the process. I truly fear for the future of Israel & the US Bib or Trump is re-elected.
8
@citizen
I think Bibi's influence on trump is indirect; it's Bibi's influence on U.S. right wing (mostly Orthodox) Jews whose support trump needs that result in these policies.
1
@citizen Completely disagree. Bibi values stability more than anything else. When disaster in internals, he is quite smart and thoughtful in foreign politics. The biggest disaster for middle east was 8 years of Obama.
2
Many elements of this story have an existential ring.
Jewish politicians agreeing not mention or confront the issue of Palestinians hearkens back to America's birth and near demise in the American Civil War. The Founders agreed not to discuss or confront slavery. They put of the issue in order to get southern slave states to ratify the Constitution. By not confronting the contradiction to the foundational principle that all men are created equal, the poison of slavery spread. It led to the Civil War and the deaths of hundreds of thousands.
Of course, slavery was ended but America has yet to reconcile itself to that founding principle of equality. For too many, equality is in name only.
Israel is on a similar path. And there is not much difference between black slavery and Palestinian slavery. The Palestinians are not given equality with Jews. They are denied self-autonomy. They are denied freedom by force. Jews everywhere should not just be alarmed with what is happening in Israel, they should demand resolution of the Palestinian issue that too many have simply ignored.
And another familiar ring...Trump is Netanyahu on a larger scale. Institutions are being dismantled before our eyes. The salient question is, will the people tolerate fascism?
111
Sound familiar, truer words were never spoken!
If Americans don’t get it that Election 2020 will be a choice between the American State and the Trump State, The democracy we know is done!
Canada here we come!
Rhgelb
@Richard Gelb: Two thirds of the US Senate can just sit on the sidelines and see where the chips fall in 2020, which will probably fall short of a majority large enough to convict after an impeachment trial.
@Richard Gelb
And what, pray tell, will you be offering Canada when you present yourself at the border?
They’re particular about that sort of thing so you should anticipate the question.
1
Unlike the US, Israel can hold snap elections when if finds itself governed by incompetents. That is Bibi’s biggest worry.
2
Israel will have to do some very, very dramatic changes to regain its respect . Getting rid of Netanyahu would be major and taking back the government from the Radical Religious groups another.
1
@RichardHead: People who claim to represent God do not negotiate at all.
1
Thank you, Mr. Friedman, for your insights here.
Netanyahu and Trump are two peas in a pod. They are both corrupt, vicious and hate-filled. They both legitimize and enable the most bigoted, evil elements in their respective societies. They validate the sense of superiority and entitlement on the part of their supporters.
Israel's fragmented political system fosters the kind of maneuvering that allows Netanyahu to remain in power.
Israelis would be well advised to consider that their postures relating to all the issues you mention in your article affect the way other peoples perceive Israel in particular, and, for better or worse, Jews in general.
American Jewry has been growing increasingly disenchanted with Israel's politics, particularly as it determines the face Israel shows to the rest of the world. Perhaps Netanyahu's Israel, like Trump's U.S., is willing to present itself as a proprietary country belonging to one man. Perhaps not. The choice would seem clear to us. Is it clear to the Israelis?
1
Trump won't get his peace plan because there is no trump /Kushner peace plan and never intended to be one. The Palestinians can be expelled just like the migrants at our border. And neither trump or bibi scares what happens to them.
Bibi and trump, the American evangelical movement , Christian right, what ever you want to call it, give religion a bad name. Hypocrits all. And trumps religiousity is is as true as his hair, for looks only.
1
@lady in green:
Migrants are not “expelled.”
Maybe they are not let in, but that’s not the same thing.
2
Thank God for Greece. Democracy will live on.
No expectations means never being disappointed.
Flaws abound in Friedman's polemic. Ehud Barak is not "still very influential". He is bitter, old and jealous of his one-time underling Netanyahu. Barak has been spending his time grifting off marijunana ventures and other corporate entities willing to pay megamillions for a brand name shill. Israel's Supreme Court is a problem; a self-appointed branch of government that rides roughshod over the elected legislature and the will of the people.
Personally I am hoping for a broad coalition that would exclude the parasitic ultra Orthodox parties whose rubber stamp on major policies is paid for in cold hard coin and the exemption of their children from any sort of military or national service. As a right winger, I do feel Bibi's expiration date has come and gone. But Tom Friedman's bandying about of
Palestinian buzzwords like 'apartheid' speaks volumes of his bias. And arguing that what happens in Israel will effect how American Jews feel and act about Israel is an empty implied threat. That train has left the station. Most liberal Jews no longer care about Israel or about their own future as Jews. Being fully integrated into the intersectionalized victimology mongering of today's progressive Democrats, they are selling Israel down the river wholesale in order to ingratiate themselves with the Linda Sarsours, Ilhan Omars, Rashida Tlaib's and Bernie Sanders's. For them Israel, or rather being hostile to Israel, is their ticket of admission to this dubious club.
5
As an American Jew, I am deeply ashamed of Israel and will not give one penny to support Israel and their selfish and stupid predicament that they alone caused. That said, there is so much wrong with the Israeli Government that is unknown if anything could save this country. The Israeli dream of a safe home for the Jews of the world is simply a fallacy and a danger for others.
The lesson for both Netanyahu and trump, Israel and America cannot stand. Corruption and self-interest is no way to run a Country and will consume itself.
5
My question is whether OUR Supreme Court will "stand in the way of the far rights' effort " to take over our constitutional democracy.It's not looking good. It may come down to one vote.....John Roberts. How's that for respecting the will of the people and the supposed rule of law?As for a "world- class judicial system".....Trump and McConnell are trying to destroy it in this country and may succeed.McConnell has a new web sight up asking for donations to "fight for Trump's conservative agenda....and keep confirming pro-Constitution judges." That's a laugh.If we don't kick Trump and the amoral idiots around him out...we're in for big trouble.It's not just going to be about his wall and his tax cuts.
3
The US Supreme Court hasn’t got even a basic understanding of chaos theory, which has established that net positive feedback in complex systems inevitably culminates in chaos when sustained for long enough. The recent ruling on gerrymandering is proof that it has a majority completely decoupled from reality.
2
"By the way, my fellow Americans, do many elements of this story have a familiar ring to you?"
Especially that part about neutering the Supreme Court.
The problem with tyrants is that you can never give them enough so that they are satisfied. They will always need more.
t rump and Netenyahoo are soul mates. Or would be if either of them had a soul.
2
Er, Tom, democracy is the threat. Not Trump or Natanyahu.
Democracy had a lot of appeal to people when it worked to create a paradise for a homogeneous and select group of people. "You work the land, the factories, the homes, and acknowledge that I make your life possible, vote, and go home, and shut up." It was a great appeal. "I will take what I want, you wait in line."
America was a democracy during slavery, during Jim Crow. South Africa was a democracy during apartheid. Europe was a democratic after 1945 with immigrants in ghettos doing the dirty work (pretty much all of it).
Now, democracy is threatening. To Americans, to Europeans, to Israelis.
For people to regain their faith in democracy, you will have to bring back Jim Crow, racial and religious segregation and every other evil that allowed the funneling of money from the weak to the strong. When that does not happen, we embrace Trump, the Brits embrace Farage, the French embrace Le Pen, the Italians embrace Salvini, the Russians cling to Putin, and so on.
Hope that clears it up for you.
Trump isn't a 'threat to our democracy' - he's the result of it.
He was voted in - just not by you. Now we'll have another election and that'll be that. Wringing one's hands for three years really damages one's ability to type coherent thoughts.
4
Actually Clinton was voted in. The undemocratic electoral college gave the presidency to Trump.
1
Standing in contrast to Israel's democracy's dire demise and collapsing into the black hole of radical righteousness, is the harmony and harmonies of the West-East Divian Orchestra celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. Daniel Barenboim and Edward W. Said founded the orchestra in 1999. Members come from Israel, Palestine, Iran, Spain, and Turkey. There is a BBC Proms Concert on YouTube from a few years ago. Would that their light from the music they present together be a beacon to a better democracy and relations with their neighbors.
1
Israel will do whatever is in Israel’s best interest to do to defend their sovereignty and citizenry from the persistence of existential threats...ongoing for over 70 years now. They know better than any outsider what’s necessary...and they’re certainly not going to agree to commit national suicide just to appease their army of critics.
4
Bibi Netanyahu has some skill in governance, but he has underwhelming compassion for the marginalized in Israel's sphere of influence.
Long ago, that lack of compassion made me grit my teeth when I heard he was elected Prime Minister. At least that seemed to be the limit.
Then we had the ultra-Orthodox attacking Palestinians, and women, and non-Orthodox Jews. And doing their level best to treat 21st century technology with expanded 4th century rules. And I gritted my teeth more.
And I watched videos of Palestinians telling their tales, and as I listened to their actual words underneath the spoken translation, the cadences sounded Yiddish--a language filled with humor and anger and reminders of being oppressed. More teeth grinding. Not helped by Palestinian attacks on Israel because it's not a zero-sum game.
But now, you add in the corruption and the spiraling hate... my late father, who grew up in Brooklyn and had relations in Israel, might say if I asked his memory *It's amazing just how goyishe the Jewish future looks.*
2
Umm, the Iraq War run up was the greatest assault on US democracy since Bay of Tomkin.
The breadth of the corruption is staggering, and puts to shame the Wacky White House of today. The Corruption and stink clouded - the White House, the Senate, the Intelligence Community, the Military/Industrial complex, and fouled the enablers in the Media.
That level of stink led to a a 1st term Senator who spoke honestly yet opaquely, and a slimy real estate guy that spoke bluntly and not that honestly.
1
"Who Is a Bigger Threat to His Democracy: Bibi or Trump?"
Unfortunately, the op-ed isn't about the subject mentioned in the title. A high priced lawyer friend of mine recently lamented that the NYT has a problem with really bad titles, which caught my attention. It's true. This is pathetic and misleading title for a really good piece on Netanyahu, and how he threatens the democracy of Israel. The title today of Frank Bruni's piece, Joe Biden, Closet Republican, is equally terrible and misleading. Great essays, misleading and inaccurate titles, what is the problem?
4
This problem is not new. A number of years ago I suggested that Israel's tilt to the right was wrong, which unfortunately, earned me the enmity of friends who seem to have come to the belief as they got older and more conservative, that Israel is beyond reproach. Yes, your are right the remarkable Jewish democratic tradition could be torn apart, if Bibi wins the election, but it's the rest of the world that needs to support democracy too. It's a quagmire where ciritcism of Israel is branded as suspicious by the ultra-right.
3
While Mr. Friedman’s piece focuses on Mr. Netanyahu, in some ways it could be about many Western democracies these days. The continuing Nationalistic drift is the greatest threat we face. In my baby-boomer lifetime, I’ve never been more concerned. What to these trends mean for the future of our world? Since WWII, Western democracies, and the USA in particular, have been the champions of freedom and responsible government, albeit with stumbles along the way. Now they seem to be in a free fall, with each country wanting to go their own way, driven by large constituencies that have great fears of... something. We have endured such things in the past, even during the Depression, in our own country, so perhaps this, too, shall pass. But any extremism that gains a toehold and can make gains in remaking democracy in their own image is something to be reckoned with. It is so easy to have things change one tiny step at a time.
3
Bibi or Trump? That’s it? You have become like an athlete who stayed on too long. Perhaps the grind of a weekly column has become too much as you rehash your old books. I think you’re doing more harm now. Please stop.
Raise your hand if you remember when Tom Friedman used to worship Bibi and all he stands for in these pages for decades.
*hand in the air*
And yet, for all of his criticism of Bibi now, Friedman does not seem to make the connection between Bibi's hateful politics and his illegal actions.
Bibi has spent decades annexing and controlling settlements throughout Palestinian land without reprisal. Is it so surprising that he wants to exercise unfettered power over Israel's legal institutions as well?
3
@Jennifer S
There’s no such thing as sovereign ‘Palestinian Land’. Not one square inch. There might have been, but the Arabs rejected statehood in favor of waging endless terror wars. Their choice...
There are properties owned by Arab individuals, and Israel recognizes them as such. Meanwhile, the so-called Israeli settlements, located in Area C and under full Israeli civil and security control, are NOT built upon what you mendaciously call ‘Palestinian Land’...as there is not now, nor ever was, a sovereign entity called ‘Palestine’.
3
I still not not know why Gentiles living in the USA should consider the fate of Israel as a national security issue for the USA.
If it were not for the dollar influence of Aipac the fate of Israel would rarely appear as a national issue here.
Barak is correct. The greatest threats to Israel's security are internal. The ultra Orthodox and right wing settlers are the tail wagging the dog. Just as Israel is the tail wagging the dog here.
1
And thus Bibi appears to be an autocratic "strongman" like Kim, like Erdoan, like el Sisi , like Duterte . And like Trump's idol- Putin, and Jared's bestie, MBS.
We can almost be certai that trump would approve of a Bibi victory- no matter how ruthless or destructive- just like he admires Xi's seizure of power.
3
Back in 2015 , a group from the Taglit project asked me, while passing through Rabin square, what do I think of the political situation. I stood there saying "Right here a Jewish assassin killed peace. The man responsible is now in thrown. As long as the fascist party is in power, This is our darkest time" . It only got worst since than!
2
To quote the Isreali Attorney General "You have hurt the image of public service and public faith in it. You acted in a conflict of interests, you abused your authority while taking into account other considerations that relate to your personal interests and the interests of your family. You corrupted public servants working under you.”
Where is our Attorney General?
3
Why choose?
The missing words in this column are Iran, Hezbollah and Iran.
5
One should not have an illusion about Ehud Barak. He is exactly the same Machiavellian principless conman as Bibi. With paying little attention for anything, but his personal well being. They are simply twins in that aspect.
He has almost zero popularity among Israelis, and the case he is not passing electoral barrier, which is likely to happen, he just drains votes of the center-left.
1
Old nonsense from an old pundit. Friedman hasn't lived in the Middle East for decades, he was so wrong about the Arab Spring it's a wonder anyone publishes him any more.
Barak is the James Buchanan of Israeli politics. After Buchanan's election in 1856 it was 26 years before another Democrat would be elected president. That's because after the Civil War, Americans didn't trust or want Democratic leadership. Since Barak left office in 2000 it's been 19 years without Labor leadership. The party of Ben Gurion and Meir got 6 seats in the last election. Israelis don't trust Labor and after multiple terror wars created by negotiating with the Palestinians-why should they?
And then we get the "Democracy or Jewish" tripe. Israel has achieved unprecedented economic growth and security, not because they negotiated with the Palestinians but exactly because they did not negotiate with the Palestinians.
There are at least 6 proposals in the March 29, 2019 Haaretz newspaper which detail how Israel can maintain one man, one vote without giving the Palestinians a terror state. Not bothering to read it doesn't mean we have to re-visit the failed 19 year old proposal of land for peace. Sorry, it created chaos, terror, and death. Israelis have moved on, Thomas hasn't.
Bibi should get his day in court. Israelis will pick their leader, it won't be Barak. Our job as Jews and as Americans is to respect both the Israeli legal system and political system.
The Israelis got this.
6
What a bunch of total farce:
And because Netanyahu has so completely snookered both Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, they don’t understand that if Bibi wins, the Trump peace plan is dead on arrival.
Do you think either The Criminal of the Slum-lord give a hoot about the Palestinians or 'Israel Democracy ? The are looking for real estate opps and whatever garbage the dual loyalist Adelman is telling them to swallow.
3
Dystopian Israel as the prototype for Trumpian-dystopian America?
Anywhere you look the far right vision of the future is a human catastrophe.
1
“...the State of Israel will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex;....”
Says Charlie B: “So, the very opposite of a theocracy. “
So prophets are not religious figures? And where do we find what these prophets allegedly envisioned? In religious writings. Ergo, the State of Israel is a theocracy. President Carter, who worked very hard to bring the Israelis and the Palestinians together, was right that Israel later chose to become an apartheid state. Is that what the prophets envisioned?
1
How do we really know what to believe today? While this statement might sound trite at first appearance, it all becomes very clear (actually totally mud) once the rock is removed.
Fact versus Fiction 101.
Back in the early 1940’s when I was a child in New Jersey, here are some of the things we believed in as FACT!
1. Christopher Columbus discovered America!
2. The World was FLAT in 1492
3. We, our Planet, was the center of the Universe!
How did we get our FACTS and TRUTH?
1. Radio
2. Newspapers
3. Books and The Encyclopedias at the library, or if you were lucky enough to afford them, in your home.
4. Movie highlights on Saturday morning at the movies.
Life was so very simple and trustful back then.
Today, we have a president (I refuse to use a Capital Letter) who just a few days ago, talked about AIR PORTS during President George Washington’s Reign.
Folks, you can’t make this stuff up! And this clown is not only running our country, The Senate and another clown Mitch McConnell, but apparently over 45% of the American Public!
If I wrote a fictional book about this just 10 years ago, I’d be laughed out of every serious publisher’s office, and now we have to be concerned about Bibi in Israel?
God has such Love and Patience with us lowly human beings. I’m trying Lord!
1
Well, Barak has given me an Israeli I can respect again. Netanyahu has single handedly changed Israel from a country where Nobel Peace prizes were merited, to a nation that is despised for its atrocities.
Israelis need to wake up, Netanyahu would see Israel destroyed in order to retain power.
Friedman continues the delusion that Israeli voters (like Trump voters) are acting out of ignorance. Rubbish. Politics is dirty business--founded on the monopoly of violence. You don't take your marching orders from the Sermon on the Mount here. Obama knew that blowing up terrorists meant blowing up their wives and children. Israelis cannot give up apartheid without ceding control to the Palestinians. Every state is founded on Might. In statehood might is always right. The minute Israel cedes the monopoly of violence, she will cease to exist. Trump voters weigh Trump's personal depravity against the radical Left. Dirty politics is always the choice of the lesser evil. You don't get on this bus without throwing someone under it.
1
Tom, I was going along with your article until I read in your article that Trump or Kushner will hate it if Netanyahu wins. Yay right... Trump or Kushner have no plan to help the Palestinians. the Palestinians to Trump are like black or brown people here who do not deserve any right and should be subjected to second class citizen class... In fact Trump will crow if Netanyahu wins... it means his win in 2020 is guaranteed as a racist demagogue like Netanyahu... I am surprised Tom does not see this.
Talk about oversimplication! And Tom Friedman's "the sky is falling" hysterics. Ehud Barak is not the savior and Netanyahu is not out to turn our country into the State Of Netanyahu.
4
Silly. The idea that Trump cares about his "peace plan" or even knows what's in it is ridiculous.
Trump and Netanyahu are essentially the same item: racist nationalists. Netanyahu's victory would be Trump's too. And the victory of every racist nationalist from Hungary to the Phillipines.
A guy as smart as Friedman should know that.
1
Israel is on a rendezvous with history. Continuing expansion into the West Bank, eventually culminating in its formal annexation, would almost certainly result in a formalized two-tier political, judicial, and societal nation: one in which the Jewish population (eventually a minority), would exercise apartheid-like authority over a Palestinian majority. That some find this to be an acceptable solution is beyond cynical—it is evil.
1
There are a couple of real problems with this article. Firstly, whatever happens in Israel should not tear apart domestic Jewry. US and Canadian citizens of the Jewsih faith are citizens of one country: the USA or Canada, unless they hold dual citizenship. Their loyalty is to the USA or Canada, not Israel. Let us keep religion and allegiance separate please.
Secondly, the article fails to recognize that the "peace plan" was already dead a long time ago. Nothing that happens now will revive any hope of a peace plan unless a fundamentally different kind of government gets elected in Israsel, and that seems highly unlikely.
The only real significance of this situation is whether Netanyahu stays in the Prime Minister's office or ends up in jail, and whether domestic institutions within Israel get corrupted along the way - an internal matter for the citizens of Israel to deal with.
1
If you care about Israel, pay attention, because the country you admire is on the line.
This reader cares about Israel without having found much to admire in its leadership or direction for what seems like a very, very long time.
3
Spot on Mr. Friedman, from yours truly, someone who more often than not takes issue with you (on the merits).
1
That photograph of Bibi is a worth a thousand indictments.
I am working in Appalachia these days. I wish I didn't do the things I do on a whim.
I like the simplicity and an odd innocence of the people here, which I feel metropolises have lost.
I commented it to one of the local kids, working as a ARNP with us. I said, I feel Kentucky politicians have thrown them to the wolves. He said, amen. Mitch McConnell's name came up (let's not talk about my reaction!)
This young bright guy said something so sane and insightful. No point blaming, it is the lack of will of the people, in last two elections, our counties's representation was 6% and 12% of the total voting populace.
You think we can manage anything if we don't go and vote for the right man or... woman first (he laughed).
None of these politicians, charlatans would have any agenda, any support... unless they have support of the masses.... the enemy within, not without.
Such narcissistic psychopaths were present in every era, every decade.
2
Yes, this is a tough call for all the reasons you give us and perhaps even more. I take the opportunity you Thomas L Friedman give me thanks to the line "If you're a Jew, really pay attention" to point to a bitter irony, something to be feared in the future if Netanyahu and Trump remain as the chosen ones.
In Netanyahu's future Israel just how far must a person be prepared to go to prove that he or she is Jewish and have voting rights? In Donald Trump's future America, perhaps the same question will be raised as concerns whiteness, only those with Trumpian genes may vote as a whole person, all others 66 percent or less.
Visit The Guardian 6/13/2019 and read "What does it mean to be genetically Jewish?" After that, take a look at Richard Lewontin's "Is There A Jewish Gene" in NY Review of Books 2012.
Then imagine Donald Trump taking a lesson from Israel by deciding that to be an American you must establish your whiteness by providing the American Institute of Race Biology with your Big Y genome - if male as Trump claims to be. (Note: Sweden had an Institute of Race Biology in 1922, fortunately it no longer does).
And you thought climate change was the most serious concern we face? Think again.
Only-NeverInSweden.blogspot.com
Citizen US SE
2
All i can say is that this article is written by a person who was upset when Russia tried to influence the US election, I must add that Mr. Friedman, since writing his book "From Beirut to Jerusalem" in the 70th, was wrong on everything he wrote about the Middle East and Israel, he still is.
6
"Who Is a Bigger Threat to His Democracy: Bibi or Trump?"
This is a trick question, right?
Since last year, Israel is no longer a 'democracy'.
It is a theocracy.
Theocracies are never democratic.
They are Ladderism.
Everyone gets a rung on the ladder. If you are 'important', you get a rung way up at top.
Not so important?
You get a rung further down.
Everyone gets a rung, everyone has a place in the society - until whoever is designating the rungs gets bored and just says, "Oh, forget them. They're not really our type anyways."
Israel has a lot of "those people".
So does the USA.
However, the USA is forbidden by the First Amendment to become a theocracy.
Still, it does like their ladders.
For instance, I am a woman.
That means that I am less a citizen than a man.
Both Bibi and Trump think that is the biggest laugh they've ever heard.
They hoot and chuckle every time they get together.
But then they hoot and chuckle at Cap'n Bone Saws, too.
So: They are both a threat to democracies.
The only difference is the Bibi has already dismantled his and Trump still has a loooonnggg way to go.
...right?
2
"...several related issues that cut to the heart of Israel’s identity as a Jewish democracy ..." What exactly is a 'Jewish democracy'? Can there also be a 'Christian democracy'?, an Islamic democracy'? Judaism is a religion, not a nationality, so at best, 'Jewish democracy' is an infelicitous turn of phrase, and at worst meaningless. Far better and more accurate and correct is Ehud Barack later in the article: "... we’re on the brink of “a complete breakdown of Israeli democracy...”.
2
Well, it looks as though Bibi will be going to jail sooner than Trump.
I'm sure the GOP as well as Trump will miss him very much.
Question please Mr Friedman: will Barak running split the sensible vote and give Netanyahu the numbers he needs to form a new government?
1
No wonder Bibi was so easily able to snooker Trump - Bibi is acting like a autocratic despot, and we all know that Trump has a weak spot for the despots of the world. These guys are two peas of a pod. Hopefully they can have a nice correspondence with each other from their respective jail cells.
1
In regards to "Bibi" and Isreal, Isreal is a non-power, and losing more standing every second that passes. Why we have this.....obsession/fascination with them, I assume is due to religion, and if they don't stop antagonizing the Arab world, those guys just might destroy them.
I have heard for decades that Israel is on the slippery slope to apartheid if it continues to control the West Bank without giving the people there equal rights. Well, the occupation is now over 50 years old, exceeding the Soviet control of Eastern Europe and approaching the length of time that the actual apartheid South Africa controlled Namibia. At what point does the slippery slope end, or does it go on forever? What incentive does the Israeli right have to compromise knowing that we will continue to give them billions in foreign aid and political support regardless of how long the status quo remains in place?
2
Just a thought. Isn't it interesting that the far right in both Israel and the US are the "religious" parties. The ones who take their orders directly from god???
1
The press beats them both hands down. Trump will be gone by 2024 regardless, yellow journalists will still be going strong then.
1
Who is the more intelligent columnist, Friedman or Stephens?Not sure what the parallel of Bibi is to President Trump. Is Trump seeking to amend US laws to make him immune to prosecution? Impose an apartheid state somewhere? Annex another country? There is an odd false equivalency, but it does make for a provocative tittle. Actually this comment is just about Friedman’s essay, but I took a lesson from this essay’s tittle, It made for a good grabber didn’t it?
One of Friedman's best columns. He is 100% correct.
1
Wrong question.
Bibi's push for outlawing BDS, thereby restricting Americans' freedom of speech, makes him the only one who threatens both democracies.
There are two Jewish peoples in the world today: the Progressives, and the Fundamentalists. One group stands for truth, sanctity of life, continual evolution towards an ideal and Godly life, and the other values possession of land, money, things over human dignity. One group is true to the Torah, and the other is not Jewish at all, except in name.
Democracy cannot be founded on tribalism. Bibi will win.
To avoid hyperbole and exaggeration, it would behoove Mr. Friedman to outline, however briefly the crimes allegedly committed by Mr. Netanyahu. It would also be helpful to have an explanation of how, using the knesset and Israeli courts to change legislation, Netanyahu threatens "democracy" in changing the laws, any more than FDR was a threat to democracy by proposing to change the structure of the SCOTUS, or Bernie Sanders poses a threat to democracy by proposing to do the same.
Israel has problems to be sure, and Netanyahu is an imperfect leader. But readers here are kidding themselves if they think that the Israeli public is interested in electing someone whose views radically depart from Netanyahu's when it comes to the security of the Israeli state, or the value of Israeli lives.
2
Israel is in danger of turning into a theocracy run by extreme right wing ultra religious Jews. This vocal minority has far too much sway regarding Israeli politics. The 2 state solution is far from ideal but the continuing settlement policy is choking off that possibility. That can portend a dark future With a growing population of ultra religious Jews { insisting that their interpretation of Judaism is the only one } & a growing population of young angry Palestinians living side by side Israel may end up being very different from a democratic society w/o the 2 state solution . I have no doubt that dirty hands will be behind the up coming election. There are dark forces in Israel, Russia, the Arab world especially S Arabia & the US that want Bibi to win. The 2 state solution is no picnic especially with regards to Gaza. It will take a US State Department operating with the very best personal to pull the parties to the table which includes Egypt The security of Israel is paramount .The Palestinians must have a future that help them move out from the swamp that they are now living in.
If Ehud Barak wins hopefully he can hold on until a new team in DC is sworn in . I am very concerned about the future of Israel & pray that it can survive Bibi's absolutism & use of fear to control the narrative He is an impediment to the future of Israel . Bibi is an absolutist and has to be defeated for Israel to have a future in which it can continue
as a democracy.
It seems it's taken a Trump presidency for TF to shift from his often center-right positions to a more logical, clear-minded, sane one. To an impartial observer, the situation in Israel in regards to the Palestinians has always been one of almost extreme injustice. No one, ever, is suggesting downplaying the tragedy of what the Jews experienced through much of the 20th century and especially during the Holocaust, that will never, and should never, be forgotten. What to do in the West Bank, of course, directly affects what happens to more and more Palestinians, as well as sets (or destroys) further precedence in what happens in future Israeli-Palestinian relations. As to who is greater threat to democracy in their countries, that too should be relatively clear to see. The damage that DT is doing to the US is unprecedented, both in domestic term as well as internationally.
Tom, if you think about it, the question does not look that tough. Both Bibi and Trump are a threat to democracy in their countries.
A corrupt leader is always a threat.
A lying man who thinks he's fooling the world actually only fools himself. His audience gauges him alright, the way he really is.
A leader who mistreats a sizable part of his citizenry is a menace to all his people.
I'm not one bit surprised that both Bibi and Trump, for now, look at the top of their game. All crooked and crafty leaders appear that way, invincible to the very day they fall. But KARMA spares no one. Their day and time of fall are marked on the calendar. Times is not their friend.
1
The only move bibi and trump have to stay out of jail and save their families is to reduce democracy.
The only move Israel and the USA have to save democracy is to vote out bibi and trump.
No brainer. Shortly we shall find out who are countries really are.
In 1967, Israel annexed the entire West Bank and Gaza and never looked back. A sovereign Palestinian state, not controlled by Israel, has never been more than a bait-and-switch fantasy, something offered but never intended to be given. In short, the Jordan River is Israel's permanent eastern border and everything west of the river is inside Israel.
There is a name for that arrangement: apartheid. It's not a future possibility or the result of a worst-case scenario. It is the present fact on the ground, a situation which is now fifty years old. No Israeli election is going to change that.
1
The bane of Israel is the growing power of ultra Orthodox
groups.They are responsible for Netanyahu, & the acquisition of the West Bank which they refer to as Gomorra & Samaria, the biblical names of the West Bank, which God gave to the Israelites
I remember speaking to a Nurse in a Kibbutz, who when i said , Thank God for Israel replied angrily, thank the Haganah which was the first Israel Defense forces,Her secular views are being pushed aside by the Ultra Orthodox, whose huge birth numbers, has taken control of Israel.Israel’s Democracy is being replaced by Theocracy.
1
No matter who wins the Israeli election, the first order of business is for the US to turn off the money tap to our unruly client-state. Israel, at one time, needed the money for survival. Now, it is in actual alliance with many surrounding Arab states. It's a powerful country with the world's deadliest armed forces and intelligence services. Mossad even has a TV series!
So why are American taxpayers propping up a client state that seems to think WE are the clients? Cut 'em off. Sanity might result.
1
I have no confidence in any undisclosed peace plan by Trump and Kushner. But Bibi’s arrogance and his desire to subvert Israel’s independent judiciary and civil society to protect himself from prosecution for corruption is a serious threat to Israeli democracy.
His craven appeasement to the ultra orthodox religious right could lead to an apartheid absorption
of the West Bank and is contrary to liberal Jewish values and the real interests of a peaceful and just solution to the Palestinian questions.
I feel Bibi’s election would ultimately represent a tragic failure of the Zionist vision of a democratic and
humane Israel that would treat all its neighbors with traditional Jewish compassion and decency.
His election would be divisive and possibly lessen American Jewish support for Israel and especially its right wing policies.
Don't be misled by Tom Friedman's chatty style. It masks his claim to be "in the know" when there are many aspects that he knows not much more about than anyone else. What will ultimately work in Israel, I believe, is one sovereign multi-ethnic state federated with an autonomous federated entity of "Palestine." The combination will be as democratic as the Dominion of Canada with its Anglos and Quebecois. Bibi is not more corrupt than Turkey's Erdogan, and Israel's sky is not falling any more than it fell during the reign three thousand years ago of the great King David, who was not an angel. Ehud Barak may have a bit of the limelight now, but he is a lightweight compared to Avigdor Lieberman and Bibi.
Neither! The biggest threat to democracy are Democrats! Plain and simple.
1
Democracy? I laugh. Israel is a theocracy and this is a plutocracy.
Yes, I have lived in Israel.
1
Too bad we can't have an election for US President this September. I think democracy will survive in Israel. Not so sure there will be anything left of it here by November 2020
1
Bibi is so much like trump. Only by destroying rule of law and the free press can trump and Bibi stay in power and avoid jail. I hope they both go down, thus saving both countries institutions.
I know highly educated, well traveled, philanthropic people who belong to Christians United for Israel. This organization takes Americans on tours to the "Holy Land" and they come back telling everyone that the Rothschild's "bought" the West Bank for Israel after WWI. Therefore, their belief is that Israel is perfectly within it's rights to built on this land which was, in their mind, always a part of the Israel. Where does this stuff come from? I asked where the deed is. Surely, if such a sale took place there is documentation?
It is remarkable that Tom and many otherwise knowledgeable Times readers continue to compare and confuse Mr. Netanyahu with Trump.
Netanyahu is a highly educated man. MIT and Harvard graduate. Member of an extremely distinguished family including among them an eminent historian and world-renowned Rabbi.
Has successfully engaged over the course of his life in multiple careers as a politician, diplomat, writer, economic consultant and marketing executive.
A proud Jew, skilled orator and politician, longest serving Prime Minister in Israel’s history, served five years in an elite unit of the Israel Defense Forces in several of Israel’s wars,
wounded in action, married to the same wife since 1991, deep knowledge and experience with virtually every branch of the Israel’s government, supporter of free market economics, gay rights and the integration into Israel of Ethiopian Jews and African Hebrew Israelites.
Is it possible that this man’s critics are comparing him to some other Trump?
2
Yeah, let’s listen to this nudnik.
Israel has never been safer. Israel’s economy has never been better. Israel has renewed ties with it’s Arab neighbors. Israel is the only country in the Middle East with a diverse population. Arabs are moving into Israel. Persecuted Christians are moving into Israel.
But let’s go back to weak leftist leadership in Israel says Friedman.
Oy vey.
4
I find Tom's phrase, "Jewish democracy" contradictory. He should stop using it.
Democracy..."a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state".
1
What is it in humans that allow a these totally wrong for the job leaders to thrive?
The answer to your opening question, Mr. Friedman? Yes.
The answer to your closing question? Yes.
The main difference between the two is that Mr. Netanyahu has a built-in, constant tool to gain support and use the military to his advantage. Every time the extremist Palestinians in Gaza shoot off rockets into Israel, he gets to deploy the military and show how dangerous the situation is to the survival of the State. This constant, if intermittent violence keeps the extremists relevant, but it also keeps the extremists in Likud and the settler community relevant, and weakens the voices of moderation on both sides of the divide between Israelis and Palestinians.
For Mr. Trump to come up with a use of the military to help solidify his office will take a significant stretch, which should (repeat, SHOULD) be obvious to all. It hasn't worked well on the southern border, for instance. But if all the ethical, legal and sexual baggage he has somehow camouflaged from his base ever is exposed to the light of day, who knows? Could he or his supporters figure out a "Wag The Dog" scenario?
Seems far-fetched, but that's what I thought about Mr. Trump's candidacy in early 2016.
"Who Is a Biggest Threat to His Democracy:" Sanders, or Warren, or AOC?
2
Tom Friedman, please stop with the "Trump peace plan" nonsense. But please keep talking and writing about the Bibi monster. Netanyahu has to go, and if he doesn't then Israel has to go as a U.S. ally, because given time, Netanyahu will pull the U.S. into another Middle East war, a war much worse than what's happened in Iraq or Syria, which have both been plenty bad enough. Go Ehud Barak!
Pure hogwash, Mr. Friedman. Both of these men are strong leaders--patriots who believe in promoting national security and economic success--instead of giving in to opponents who would attempt to damage our interests.
Particularly in the U.S., there are constitutional measures, a balance of power, to prevent the president from gaining too much control--or as you say, becoming a "threat to democracy". In our history, we have certainly has greater challenges to our democracy than the presidency of Donald Trump. Shame on you for even suggesting it--you should know better.
It's this sort of hyperbole and breathless alarmism which has a greater chance of ripping our country apart. In any event, when did "Patriotism" become a dirty work in the liberal lexicon? Perhaps it happened at the same time Liberals started kneeling during the national anthem, disrespecting our flag, or striking the Pledge of Allegiance from our schools and public institutions.
1
Forget 'democracy'. They are threats to the world. Their nations should get rid of them before they get rid of their nations.
Trump is a bigger threat to democracy as a system. He is undermining its basics, of honesty and good faith, of public service as the goal.
Netanyahu is the bigger threat to his country. He is set on a path that leads to destruction. He thinks he's making a Greater Israel. He's very likely to make a disaster instead, the exact sequence of events of the collapse less clear than the inevitability of it, like a shaky bridge taking too much weight for too many cycles. Or a camel with too much straw piled on.
2
Fanatics will bring any nation down. I have nothing in common with Israel or with Iran, but given a choice I’d have to hang with Israel, although I would not give one American life for either of them. It’s not their people I detest, it’s their fanatics. Of course, in that that respect I feel the same about either of our two political parties. How many would give their life for either the Republican or Democratic Party? My problem is where to run to. Having been many times to Australia, I thought maybe. However, of late they seem to have become a mini-me to the USA. That leaves New Zealand. Then to, Canada is a lot closer, if they would have me. Scotland, after Brexit when they split from the U.K., is another possibility. So few choices, so little time.
1
Israel has been in existence since civilisation began.
Israel has neither Annexed or Occupied any territory.
Israel has corrected the geographical anomaly created historically during its time of being a weak state.
Israel has merely taken back what is its,from AGES.
Coming to Benjamin Netanyahu,the cases are subjudice & as & when he is convicted or acquitted,we will analyse the issue in the future,hopefully
2
I believe it was Jimmy Carter almost 20 years ago discussed that Israel was on the path towards "an apartheid" state if things didn't change. The Israelis and far too many American Jews seem to prefer this path than to equality and justice.
It seems the president was right after all.
2
You claim that Trump is somehow a danger to democracy.
If you believe a healthy democracy is one in which the party in power spies on their political opponents, attempts to rig elections, and then when they lose, harasses a duly elected President with false charges of treason brought by corrupt intelligence agency officials, then nobody wants your type of democracy.
Trump is the threat to democracy because he won.
You need to get over yourself.
They answer to your question is, yes, they both are the greater threats to democracy. Neither one of them believes in democracy and they hate the idea of democratic principles and the constraints of transparency and consensus. They covet the power of the fascist state and authoritarianism.
Thank you Thomas for your insightful article and the threat to democracy that Bibi represents in Israel. I would like to see a similar article on the lack of democracy for the Palestinians and the threat their leaders pose to them.
1
Both Israel and the United States are like snakes eating their own tails. Both have democracies that they believe can never be brought down. Both are wrong. These democracies are much more fragile than they realize, and are vulnerable to destruction from within. In an effort to do whatever they want, the leaders of both countries risk sliding into chaos. Such behavior used to be limited to third-world banana republics, but it's now becoming more mainstream around the world. We are in desperate need of a global paradigm shift in human thought to right the ship.
In the near future, we will program the human mind in the computer based on a "survival" algorithm, which will provide irrefutable proof as to how we trick the mind with our ridiculous beliefs about what is supposed to survive - producing minds programmed de facto for destruction. These minds see the survival of a particular belief as more important than the survival of us all. When we understand all this, we will begin the long trek back to reason and sanity.
See RevolutionOfReason.com
21
@RLB
Excellent critique!!! --a must read along
with Friedman's salient observations .
1
Tom! This has been building for years, in the same way that what we now know as "Trumpism" has been building in this country. You know it and I know it. You are a lot like the "never Trumpers" (Dave Brooks here, Jen Rubin and Max Boot over at the Post) who refused to see the rot at the heart of what they kept making excuses for,. The time to make any ethical choice was years ago, when Israel began its march toward an authoritarian, militaristic, apartheid state, while American supporters of Israel still kept trying to convince themselves that what was happening before their eyes wasn't really happening. Though we were treated to stories of "anguish" at each new atrocity, (bulldozing homes, assassinations, systematic settler violence, the enclosure of Palestinian land, the massive body counts of the IDF's periodic "lawn mowings") support never wavered. Anyone who drew attention to Israel's failures was either vilified as an "anti-Semite" (Jimmy Carter) or castigated as a "self-hating Jew" (Richard Gladstone). " The lights are going out all over the world, and with them American and Israeli liberal democracy. And the worst of it is, there is a symbiotic relationship here. The corruption of both countries has gone hand in hand. It's far too late now, Tom, but I'm glad the scales are falling from your eyes. As they say, "the owl of Minerva flies at dusk.
When you're Jewish, reality versus idealism is a continuing
dilemma, while you realize that gentiles feel similarly
because such tension is universal.
Barak's leadership versus Netanyhu's is no easy phenomenon to explain though Friedman can.
Why do I have the perception there is no panacea?
Because
Every liberal who is against Israel becuase of the Palestinians should read this, and they will realize that even in Israel, there are people in the state who agree with them, and back off. Mr. Friedman, thank you for writing this. I am, as a Jew, hoping that Bibi loses too, preserves the Jewish state, and stops the madness.
1
Get rid of them both. They're nuisances to democracy, and as heads of state to two nuclear powers (one regional, one global), they pose an even greater potential threat.
2
Ever since Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated and Yassir Arafat walked away from the peace accords, Israel has been on a slow downhill slide toward the hard right, led by Likud rationalists justifying their claims for West Bank territory and marginalizing the Palestinians. Part of the problem is that the Likud has worked hard to influence new immigrants over the last 25 years to vote right. It has been depressing to witness this firsthand. If Bibi wins, it will be a disaster for Israel in so many ways. In regard to Trump and Kushner, they are living in a fantasy world about the West Bank and Gaza. History has shown over and over again that if you deny people their sovereignty, they will fight back or slip into hopelessness, as we see happening with the Palestinians, regardless of promises of economic development. It is not a good situation, but tired old arguments from the hard right and Likud do not justify the status quo. It is heartening to see Ehud Barak break the silence,and Friedman is right that he won't win, but if it means that if his voice stirs Labor and other parties to push back, then it signals that democracy has a fighting chance, even under these incredibly trying circumstances. As it stands, however, stupidity, arrogance and power grabs, through whatever means, may keep Netanyahu in power,and it will be a sad day if Bibi wins, because, truthfully, everyone loses in the end.
By the way, my fellow Americans, do many elements of this story have a familiar ring to you?
Two corrupt leaders facing either reelection or a possible jail cell willing to destroy whatever they must to protect their criminal selves.
Yeah, rings true to me.
Timely, and still too late. The big issue are the supporters of xenophobic Trump and Netanyahu...their so-called "base". We need a new wave of diplomatic leadership that can solve really tough problems that hardline inflexibility hasn't succeeded with. But we also don't need softies. We need intelligent moderates.
How about adding names of Narendra Modi, the Prime Minister of India and his Home Minister Amit Shah which is equivalent to interior minister who has vast powers at his disposal.
They both got away by manipulating and threatening witnesses, manipulating police officers and resorting to many other tactics. These two people are also big threat to the vibrant Indian democracy. They have started targeting press, institutions, etc.
These people in power is like fox guarding hen house.
1
Trump is a bigger threat to the world, but that isn't what Friedman is asking. Rather he questions whose reelection might be more disastrous for their respective countries. If Trump is reelected, the United States may still have an opportunity to correct itself however painful that may be. In contrast, reelection of Bibi will not only further isolate Israel among other nations, but it may permanently alienate those of us who make up the Diaspora. Perhaps there will be some residual support of Israel among older American Jews, but I have found few Millennial Jews (including my children) who are willing to put up with an increasingly corrupt, malign nation that exhibits little of the ethical behavior they associate with Judaism. It's not that they expect Israel to be better than all other nations, but at least to be better than illiberal pseudo-democracies like Hungary and Poland and despotic regimes like Russia and China.
Concerning Ehud Barak, you have it COMPLETELY backwards. He has done more to put and to keep Bibi in power over the last 20 years than anyone but Bibi himself:
1. As a failed, perhaps the worst, Prime Minister in Israeli history, his panicked withdrawal from Lebanon allowed Hizbullah to arrive to the Israeli border and fire thousands of rockets on North Israel. His disastorous belief that the PLO would agree to the Camp David accords lead to the second intifada and the death of thousands of Israelis and Palestinians.
2. He joined Bibi's government with the Labor Party in order to become one of the worst Defense Ministers ever. His pro-bomb Iran policies make John Bolton look like a Hippie Peacenik.
3. He then resigned from the Labor Party, effectively destroying it and the Center/Left in Israel.
4. His making up yet another allegedly center/left party for this election effectively splits the center/left vote and therefore makes Bibi's reelection easier.
5. If he merges with one of the other center/left parties before the election, he will certainly push for a government that includes Bibi.
Actions speak louder than words and empty and meaningless Party names and slogans are just that. Ehud Barak is pro-Ehud Barak and pro-Bibi.
5
Well, Tom, all the way through this fine explanatory article about Netanyahu and Israel's current crisis, I kept substituting "Trump," which yielded startling familiarity for the home front here. Our homes, churches, synagogues are already divided, our country torn apart, our congress incapable of ruling, and the dreaded horror is fully instated in the White House and in our senate.
The story in Israel as so expertly depicted by Thomas Friedman obviously is a duplicate of what happened here in the USA--except that Bibi is far more intelligent than our president and probably less corrupt, albeit sufficiently so to be clearly indicted. But the two leaders share the same methodology--attack on the "others" (Arabs , migrants), inspiring deadly fear of these "others", denying them an unbiased hearing; moving to the extreme right and attempting to control the judicial system to back this move, in the process ignoring laws and agreements that were agreed to ; and lying , lying ( although Trump is the master here and can tell two contradictory lies in one statement with no shame).
But what these two leaders have most in common and what is most inexplicable is that to their supporters, those who support them and will vote for them, it does not matter one iota. They know that these men are scoundrels but will support them and vote for them. It boggles my mind how essentially decent people, especially devoutly religious people (in both countries) can so avidly support persons who flout all the rules and ethical demands of their religions.
"every Jew who cares about the Jewish state will eventually have to make an ethical choice about whether or not they can continue to support Israel"
This misunderstands what it means to support Israel. If Israel doesn't change it's policies towards Palestinians that will not cause me to lose my support for Israel, in much the same way that 250 years of institutionalized racism has not led me to lose my support for America.
I may lose my support for a political party, but not for the country as a whole.
1
Tom,I am appalled by your shallow understanding of the multiple issues that face our country. “Every Jew should pray that Bibi should lose”-really?? I don’t know how often you get to synagogue, but to those of us who make it there three times a day and value authentic Jewish traditions a left leaning government would be a devastating blow to our beloved country. The April coalition fell apart because of Lieberman’s disdain of the religious population ( yes, my son did his army service). Lieberman’s success in torpedoing the formation of a government has emboldened many secular Israelis (Ehud Barack included) to work towards destroying the religious- secular status quo that has been the backbone of stability in Israeli society. Just yesterday the city of Ramat Gan voted to introduce public transport on the Sabbath, a gross violation of thousands of years of Jewish traditions.
I am not a settler, nor am I against negotiation for a lasting peace. But to me that is a side issue in the coming elections. The real issue is whether Israel will remain the one Jewish country in the world or will it just be another dot on the map where Jews can live comfortably like New York, London and Paris.
3
I think that we should understand that Israeli control and settlement of the West Bank without giving Palestinians rights equal to Jews - what Tom Friedman calls a fantasy - has been the reality for decades. This status quo, along with settlements and anti-democratic practices will continue so long as Israel retains largely unconditional support from both parties' leadership in Congress. Netanyahu and Blue-White (which refused to deal with Arab Israeli parties) both recognize this.
"Ironically," Friedman concludes that Trump's "peace plan" deserves "a hearing and (can) catalyze change!"
This remove from reality is reminiscent about his exhortations about how invading Iraq could "transform the Middle East."
It's hard to think of something more ridiculous treated as if it is serious fodder for progress.
Additionally, how sad that we have to rely, as the voice of "reasonableness" and "reality check," on Barak, the old "take it or leave it" or "let me ram this down your throat" brilliant negotiator with the Palestinians, back when a real peace deal was a possibility.
No wonder Israel runs amok. Esteemed columnists talk about Trump/Jared's poppycock "peace plan" as if it is something serious. And the US wilts and curtsies timidly by and pins its hopes on a radical bullying Israeli ex-general to rein in the most fanatical impulses in the Israel polity which Friedman informs us is a remarkable maelstrom of freeness. Great! No one hold their breath please.
As to the question between Trump and Netanyahu who is a bigger threat to democracy? The answer is both as the two are the mirror images of each other, thriving on divisive vitriolic rhetoric and self serving agenda ruinous to the constitutional norms and ethics.as about the Trump-Kushner West Asia peace plan, it is a big sham, mainly ytheir business promoting investment plan.
Mr. Friedman’s article furthers this vision: Imagine you’re far at sea, on a raft made of logs lashed together, and they’re sufficiently numerous to support your weight. You’ve traveled far on this sturdy raft, through storm and calm. Suddenly, the ropes begin to loosen, the logs bang together and start to shift, and soon one of them breaks free. You still have enough support, but other logs are starting to slide out and you’re desperately trying to tie them back. This is the sort of feeling I have for our nation and the world. The democratic “logs” are banging and loosening and my feet are becoming more unsteady. The rise of political tribalism, authoritarianism, xenophobia, racism, corruption, attacks on civil rights and freedoms, and general “undemocracy” is weakening the raft on which we all float, and we wonder how many logs can depart before the whole raft collapses. Netanyahu, Trump, Boris Johnson, Orban, Kaczyński, Le Pen, Salvini, Bolsonaro, Duterte, Putin, Xi, etc etc. The Trump administration alone makes me “seasick”. We need righteous world leaders, and our own active efforts, to lash the logs back together.
We really are all connected in this modern digital world, where actions in Israel can reverberate around the world. Decency and democracy and a love for fairness, if it led to a freeing of the Palestinian people, would inspire people across the world. Israel can be a leader once again.
Or, it can be Egypt.
Or Russia.
Or Turkey.
Or China.
One hopes for good news.
Hugh
Yes, Tom, many elements of the story have a familiar ring. Let us pray that our democracy has sturdier institutions than the fledgling one in Israel.
What nonsense that Israeli actions obstruct democracy. Giving the Palestinians a State has nothing to do with a permanent peace or Israeli democracy. What is undemocratic is the tyranny of Hamas and the PLO. Israel is a vibrant democracy. As vibrant as any other democratic country in the world.The pattern of being abusive to Israel and trying to stigmatize it is old and tired and has been used against Jews for millennia and now is being used against the democratic State of Israel. The Israeli people including Israeli Arabs will go to the polls and are free to vote in this coming election. There are only 23 democracies in the world. Israel is one of them. What is it about that that Mr. Friedman doesn't understand and appreciate.
2
"Ironically," Friedman concludes that Trump's "peace plan" deserves "a hearing and (can) catalyze change!"
This remove from reality is reminiscent about his exhortations about how invading Iraq could "transform the Middle East."
It's hard to think of something more ridiculous treated as if it is serious fodder for progress.
Additionally, how sad that we have to rely, as the voice of "reasonableness" and "reality check," on Barak, the old "take it or leave it" or "let me ram this down your throat" brilliant negotiator with the Palestinians, back when a real peace deal was a possibility.
No wonder Israel runs amok. Esteemed columnists talk about Trump/Jared's poppycock "peace plan" as if it is something serious. And the US wilts and curtsies timidly by and pins its hopes on a radical bullying Israeli ex-general to rein in the most fanatical impulses in the Israel polity which Friedman informs us is a remarkable maelstrom of freeness. Great! No one hold their breath please.
2
Well-argued, but when the big countries go the ultra-nationalist route, is it really surprising the small countries would do the same?
Netanyahu's repeat election is terrifying, given the threat to Democracy in present-day Israel. And the existential threat of a continuing alliance between Donald Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu. Trump's saber rattling at Iran, his anger, ignorance and despotism is more poison in American foreign policy today. Dr. Tom, right now millions of Americans are more concerned with what's happening in the United States, and Israel is a little off our radar and off the front burner of President Trump's malign stove.
The threat to democracy does not emirate from Bibi and Trump, it emirates from the voting population that put these two scoundrels into office. After all we have seen and heard about these two, it doesn't take a genius to realize how power hungry and corrupt they are. They both defy the rule of law in broad daylight on almost what seems to be a daily basis. Yet their popularity is within reach of the 50% mark, They both run on parallel tracks. The methods and words they use are almost identical.
The most depressing thought of all is that they now depressingly represent who we are.
What Tom deftly tries to avoid spelling out is the anti-democratic institution of the Israeli Supreme Court as it is today. Israelis wish they would have a court system like we have in the USA.
New justices in Israel are mainly appointed by sitting justices and not by the legislative or executive branches. The Israeli supreme court has devolved into a self-perpetuating oligarchy of leftist academics who think they know what is best for everyone.
The people of Israel are disgusted by their court system and want it changed to be at least like ours. Only Netanyahu and those parties on his right offer a glimmer of hope.
I hope he gets elected and accomplishes at least that important change.
1
I'm in complete agreement with everything Mr. Friedman writes about here apart from one small detail- what "Trump peace plan" is he referring to? The one that Kushner has been hawking in the Middle East, that would have Arab states like Saudi Arabia and The Emirates buy off the Palestinian Arabs' right of self-determination? That plan appears to be dead already, just as it deserves to be. On the other hand, one wonders how many Pounds Sterling Kushner's father-in-law would accept to Make America Great Britain Again.
comment submitted 7/10 at 1:16 AM
2
No contest. Just two birds of a feather. Though one is the puppet master, while the other is clearly his puppet. Maybe Mr. Friedman would want to discuss this aspect of their relationship, and how it affects the world? And, people really think Russia has been a problem for the US? Think again. These two both know the true score.
Third option: AG Barr gets my vote for destroying democracy. He is demolishing the corrections built into the document that defines functional democracy.
What democracy in Israel? It is a theocracy.
"because Netanyahu has so completely snookered both Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, they don’t understand that if Bibi wins, the Trump peace plan is dead on arrival. "
Tom, I can only conclude that you still believe there is such a thing as a peace process, which, given the events of 2000 and 2001--of course I mean Arafat's refusing the best deal the Palestinians will ever see, and launching another blood fest instead--is not only a fantasy, but a fantasy that's been exploded a dozen times over. Come on.
1
I wonder if the electorate of Israel is as enamored with Netenyahu as their counterparts in the US are with Trump? People everywhere, and through out history, have fallen for these kind of scams and worse. Socrates warned us about democracy. And that was before social media.
“Only I, [corrupt, narcissistic autocrat], can save our nation and make it great again!”
Variations on that theme have played too many times throughout human history, from St. Petersburg to Berlin and Rome, to Moscow and Havana, to Caracas, Washington and Jerusalem. Overflowing prisons, detention camps and morgues inevitably follow.
1
From what I read, at the moment there are more Russian Jews emigrating to Israel than any other nationality. These people have been used to living under authoritarian rule and will probably see a firm hand and a cult of personality in politics not as a totally bad thing. There will be others who come from similar countries as well. Netanyahu may get support from these bases and win.
The question of principal symbolic sense is not analyzed .
It is wether these 2 characters represent their democracies or if these 2 political personalities represent the collective characters of these so called democracies ?
The second proposition is more realistic and shows that these 2 nations are not inherently democratic and that these politicians are effectively representing the ideologies and symbolically underwritten laws ( unconscious ) of these 2 nations.
Let's not forget that the protestant religion in its history and in the discovery of America ( was Columbus jewish ? ), the "voyage huguenot " ( the first French colonies of Brazil and Florida in early 1500 's- the Seal of Florida is still a crocodile chained to a palm tree ), imitated the desert crossing of the jewish people in Egypt out of slavery . For which there is absolutely no written historical or archeological trace.
Its a tough call. Both Trump and Netanyahu depend on the massive support of religious extremists who have abandoned the word of their respective Bibles to pursue political power instead of justice and righteousness.
1
Why doesn’t someone say to the Palestinians, “ tell us what you want , and then we will sit down and talk”. Every plan that has been put on the table has been rejected by them. Ok. For once that them propose a plan and that will be the basis for talks.
The most critical existential issue for Israel is NOT the Palestinian issue. It is the Ultra-Orthodox, who, by refusing to participate in a modern economy, and refusing to teach in their schools how to participate in a modern economy, will destroy the economy of the State of Israel unless the non-Ultra-Orthodox majority comes to its senses and forces the Ultra-Orthodxo to either comply or leave.
1
TOM FRIEDMAN'S QUESTION About whether Bibi or Trump represent the greater threat is like asking, Would you prefer to die from brain cancer or from lung cancer? While the dimensions of the devastation of the US government are extraordinarily grave, the structures of the governments of both nations are different. Bibi, for his part, is far more intelligent than Trump, but has shown himself to be an existential threat to the State of Israel. Trump, likewise, has shown himself to represent an existential threat to the existence of the US. So which will be the preferred cause of death: Cancer of the brain? Or Cancer of the lungs? Don't think about it too much and don't hold your breath waiting for the outcomes, since such actions could prove dangerous to your health.
'By the way, my fellow Americans, do many elements of this story have a familiar ring to you?'
Yes Mr. Friedman.They are trojan horses who have mastered the art of deceit. They are driven by a thirst for power and the prestige and protection of occupying 'the head of the table.' . What concerns and baffles me are those that continue to support both men.
The one that jumped off the page of your article was this; 'Netanyahu — who is waging a no-holds-barred fight to avoid being jailed for corruption'
No doubt, Trump and BiBi are two very frighten subpar human beings.
If the universe were to smile upon Israel and our United States, both will lose their re-elections. As private citizens, they will meet their fate, answering to the multitude of corruptive actions. I don't know if they will face jail time but, their egos will crawl back into the dark corners of the woodwork where they belong
Both are a threat to democracy.
Netanyahu wins the corruption award over Trump. He makes Trump look minor league. That does not change the fact that Trump is very bad for our future. Netanyahu, however, is on the cusp of Xi in China.
As an agnostic gentile, I would like a good explanation of how the secular state of Israel has become ruled by the Orthodox with apparently outsized influence by the hyper-orthodox.
I am not an expert on Jewish or Israeli history and would appreciate an understanding of how that happened. That could fill a few special issues of the Sunday NYT Magazine, for sure.
3
"But in the process of all that maneuvering, every Israeli got to see just how far Bibi was ready to go to compromise Israel’s legal institutions purely to save himself.'
Tom Friedman asks if any of his lines sounds famliar here. Yes, the quotes and examples provided make it absolutely clear both men would just as as soon jettison the nature of their countries for self protection.
Trump and Netanyahu sound like a pair of twins, separated at birth but ending up politically in the same location: between a rock and hard place.
Bibi is far smarter, more devious and by far more capable than Trump of driving his agenda. And Trump at times seems far more corrupt and obvious.
If Isreal doesn't heed the warnings of Barak, it will llikely go the way of so many democracies--corrupted by leaders whose vision for the country starts with their political survival.
Both Trump and Netanyahou have savior complex--"Only I can fix it." Problem is, neither has [fixed things', except their own futures.
81
Didn’t Netanyahu grow up in Brooklyn? Funny how our leader and he behave so similarly, if they did indeed grow up in the same age in the same city.
8
Probably Trump is more dangerous because a threat to U.S. democracy is more consequential. I do care about democracy in Israel and deplore the lock the Orthodox establishment has on Jewish religious expression and practice in Israel. And Israel may figure large in my heart. But to state the obvious: the United States is far bigger, far more populous, far richer, older and more powerful than Israel and, consequently, what the United States does and how it leads and what values it emphasizes and upholds matters more to the world.
2
I never really understood how our institutions---the courts, press, bureaucracies---were both so important to our democracy and yet so vulnerable. Each day, we see an example of a judge or civil servant, a columnists literally holding on to our democracy with their fingernails. At the same time we see other institutions--the Republican party, DOJ---collapse under authoritarian assaults. It is like watching a slow motion train wreck in front of your eyes---except our democracy is at the end of the tracks.
3
No doubt Netanyahu is smarter than Trump, who lets himself be „snookered“ because he is obsessed with writing history, hoping to negotiate his „deal of the century“ with the Palestinians, and succeed where his predecessors had failed. But his „peace plan“ is dead if Bibi wins again. Netanyahu can dodge his legal woes if he manages to form a coalition with ultra-right groups who are determined to strip Palestinians of their land and rights.
Jared Kusher may hardly be shrewd enough to realise that he’s being duped by Bibi. He doesn’t care about the Palestinians. He, like Trump, wants to make history, hoping to leave a legacy behind.
But for Israelis, it’s about their country’s future and its reputation. The longer Netanyahu hangs onto power, the more the world views Israel negatively. It explains why Ehud Barak can’t remain silent.
1
Those who lean toward the left, like Mr. Friedman, will always argue that whoever is their bete noir of the moment is a threat to democracy. What’s new? You’ll notice in this column there is no mention of the kind of Israeli state Mr. Friedman envisions. Or is he still a supporter of an unworkable two state solution? Creating a Palestinian state next door would be to establish a mini-Iran, another hostile neighbor. There are already thousands of Israeli Arabs who participate in the political and commercial life of the country. While it must remain an Israeli state, there is no reason the Palestinians cannot be a part of it, albeit without a majority vote. Of course, this would put the Palestinian Auithority and the Gaza folks out of business.
1
It is interesting that for as much as the Times' and other major media outlets wrung their hands over potential meddling in the 2016 US election, they certainly have no qualms about pontificating about what should happen in Israel's elections. Given the Times' reach & influence, is this not a form of 'meddling' too?
And for the record once again, the US is not a democracy. The Founders were explicitly concerned about the dangers of mob rule that democracies enable which is why they created a representative republic. We are a republic - not a democracy.
1
Israel is a Theocracy, not a Democracy. As far as I am concerned, neither Trump or Netanyahu is a real threat to Democracy, because neither of them is man enough to sway that many people into a dictatorship.
Not to worry, neither of them will be around long enough to worry about.
And while I'm at it, it's past time to cut off the foreign aid to Israel. It's just running us deeper into debt, which we do not need.
1
Mr Friedman
I have living in Israel continuously since 1993. I often enjoy reading your colums, but in my opinion this analysis is both hysterical and innaccurate (ie "populistic")(I wonder who is sponsoring you); the distortions are wide ; you also eliminated relevant information about recent developments in Geopolitics of the Middle East .
It seems to me more and more that almost no clear cut lines in the world exist today to define democracy, but that we might also be moving towards some form of regional peace over time.
You are correct that there exists a problem here, and it is much more complex than the one you portray.
As a long standing citizen, I know what I see "on the ground". In my opinion, the greatest threat (to our future , to our functioning country and government) is demographics, not failing democracy , and with predictions of ever rapid growth of the Ultra Orthodox population in Israel, the sharp and significant increase in a dependent poor Jewish Israel (never mind the rest)
People , in my opinion, mostly vote for huristic reasons(because they can "relate" to the canditate and are often frightened into voting "right" by news services) , but in practice, our army, defense systems and government are strong and self determining. The real threat to our existance will play out in the next 15 years as the balance turns, not only to religion, but lower standards of education, health care and overall living
3
I'd say both are dead even even when it comes to threatening democracy in their countries. But it's not just those two. A bigger threat are the voters who elected them.
1
The problem is not with Bibi. The one is with the so-called parliamentary democracy, in general. The latter ensures that only power-thirsty manipulators may climb political ladder and keeps decent people out. When you go to the ballots, the only choice you have is to choose who is lesser evil.
1
Friedman writes that the situation of Israel and the Palestinians is “probably the issue most vital to Israel’s future”. I’m glad he only says probably. I say that there is a race between two problems, one of which will destroy Israel first: The lack of a responsible plan for the Palestinians is one of them, and the other is the theocratic nature of the state together with the outsize influence of the ultra-Orthodox in politics. Their influence is inversely proportional to their economic participation, to their willingness to participate in the responsibilities of being a citizen of the state, and their willingness to live in a modern society. The encroachment of gender-separation in all sorts of spheres as a result of their pressure, the large, and growing, number of children who do not get an education suitable to be productive economically, the dependence on a generous welfare state and public health system - these are not sustainable. There is a reason that many of our best and brightest are now living in Berlin and Silicon Valley. The reason the coalition did not form is related to this other threat to Israel, and is somewhat addressed by the Blue and White party, but they are not center-left. They are center-right. There is hardly any left remaining. Maybe Barak will awaken some.
“Familiar ring”? Same rhythm, pitch, texture, timbre, tone, pulse, tempo, notes, scales, bass, treble, volume even.
Probably the same dismal outcome, too, since law-keepers are handicapped by observing political norms and rules that their law-breaker opponents cast aside, even turning them into weapons that they use against their law-abiding, rule-following opponents.
The cause of this immense tragedy is seldom remarked upon. Israel’s Founders confronted the question of what form of government their nascent state should take. They inexplicably chose post-WW-1 Germany's Weimar Republic. One need only study Weimar’s sad fate to understand Israel’s predicament and probable fate at the hands of large groups of political extremists.
Emasculating a world class judicial system, free press and civil society norms should be an anathema to all Israelis and Israeli supporters. The slippery slope Friedman suggests is real not only in Israeli but in the United States, Europe, Turkey, etc. When right wing religious zealots of all faiths and populists legitimize Netanjahu or Donald Trump it is dangerous. However, this worldwide wave of populism will be short-lived. Corrupt leaders always distort what ought to be done with their authority, power and control. Hopefully, the good people of Israeli and the good people of the United States will come to their senses and elect someone profoundly different than the current leader of Israeli and the United States. Unfortunately, nothing ever good comes from religious and conservative initiatives when they use their God or flag as a way of legitimizing their narrow view of the world. Being a good Jew or American is as being a good person in any nation. A good citizen respects the judicial system, free press and the norms of their society. And if we lose this, we lose our democracy. Yes, it is a slipper slope.
Why the need to choose one over the other? It isn't a competition. They are both a threat to their countries. I am an Israeli-American who has lived in Israel - in the "Gaza envelope" area - for the past 40 years.
1
1) It was probably too long to fit into a single op-ed, but it would have been informative to point out the analogy of Netanyahu - Ultra Orthodox to Trump - Evangelicals.
2) One of the fundamental fights in Israel not mentioned here is who gets to be a Jew? Non-orthodox need not apply.
3) Its not that the center left doesn't care about the Palestinians and the peace process. Its that the Palestinians have so alienated Israeli citizens by refusing to negotiate and labeling every Israeli leader (right, left, center) a potential war criminal.
4) Like last week's column, "We have met the enemy, and it is us."
1
Neither Trump nor Kushner care if their “peace” plan succeeds. In fact, I’m pretty sure they designed it so that it was guaranteed to fail. Ignoring the facts, they’ll blame that failure on Palestinian intransigence, and their supporters will blindly follow along.
People like Trump and Kushner are incapable of understanding that people can value principles (justice, liberty, equality, democracy, etc.) over money.
Trump's "peace plan" is an economic plan DOA because, regardless, there is no plan to end the 52 year occupation. So the choice is and still would be one state giving Palestinians full citizenship and rights, or two sovereign states. Bibi has been steering the Israeli ship into the abyss for a long time to save/keep his power but he has hit an iceberg and the ship is listing and leaking. With or without Trump and his plan ( trying to shore up his own Right leaning Jewish/Evangelical support) this is where Israel has been headed with the support of the Israeli people. From here it seems like the ostrich approach, not looking into the inevitable. Palestinians have been leaving for decades for a life elsewhere, but they will not, cannot, all do that, if the hope is to get rid of the people and keep the land.
Good luck to Ehud Barak in knocking some sense into the Jewish people who have been cowering in all of Bibi's long fear mongering, of Iranians, of Arabs, of terrorists, of delegitimization of Israel, of being pushed into the sea, of double standards against Israel, of Israel's right to all the land because Jews held it thousands of years ago... all manner of argument to avoid the inevitable binary choice.
1
Both trump and netanyahu intend to end democracy and rule as strong-man autocrats. Neither will surrender power willingly. Both will tear the temple down around them if they don't get elected. They are both nightmares.
1
The fact that Netanyahu and Trump are both in power at the same moment is one of those terrifying historical convergences that happen from time to time (think 1939). But Mr. Friedman, in his otherwise excellent analysis, fails to mention an even more significant danger arising from this combination: Netanyahu might be as unhinged in his own way as Trump, but he’s much smarter and more cunning. Knowing that Trump’s only reliable voting bloc is American Evangelicals who “support Israel,” he could easily maneuver the US into the war he wants with Iran which he knows Israel alone can’t win. If he plays skillfully enough on two of Trump’s most crippling weaknesses, vanity and insecurity, we could find ourselves stuck in yet another foreign quagmire.
2
Can either country genuinely be called a democracy?
I did not need to read the article to answer the questions: Both of them, not only to its own democracies but to the rest of democracies in the world.
It is difficult to imagine that Israel can be "Jewish" and simultaneously "democratic", given that one of the pillars of liberal democracies is equality under the law irrespective of religion, ethnicity or gender. While a two state solution with a fully independent Palestine and independent Israel has become highly unlikely in light of the expanding settlements, and the imperative of a just solution to the Palestinian refugee issue.
On the other hand, keeping control of all Palestine will make Israel an apartheid state which is not acceptable or sustainable.
There is however a third option which is more progressive and satisfies the needs of the Jewish people and the Palestinian people for security and self determination. A federation of two states of Israel and Palestine. Israel will be democratic with a Jewish majority, and Palestine will be a democratic state with non-Jewish majority. The refugees will be resettled, in both states while preserving the above majorities. The federal capital for this federal entity would be Jerusalem and the borders of the two states will be the pre 1967 lines. The presidency of the federal state will be alternate between an Israeli and Palestinian, while a Senate will be equally composed of the two states, and a representative federal parliament.
Whatever those of us who are or aren't descendants of Jews (as I am) think about this issue, Israel is linked to America by deliberate art and fraud. We pretend to be neutral in Israel's nasty conflicts, but in fact we bankroll her ongoing persecutions and crimes against the Palestinian people.
The importance of what Mr. Friedman says here is precisely that apart from his words the world knows this connection better even than most Americans, and the connection itself cannot last forever, not as long as Israel utterly refuses to come to terms with its own history of injustice and cruelty, no matter how excellent its internal institutions are or seem to be. Those institutions have not remotely brought justice to the Palestinian people.
Meanwhile, the American people are not forever going to accept the blame for what Israel does. At some point, we will wake up to the enormous cost we pay for this alliance in our alienation from other nations and peoples. That day has not yet dawned while the American people live in blindness and darkness, but that day is coming.
7
For most of my life I have been a resolutely believer in Israel because it was a democratic, had strong rule of law ethic, and even with some caveats a basic faith in human rights. Whatever issues I had with it's treatment of people under it's dominion the battle for it's right to exist made easy enough to ignore it's shortcomings.
But around two election cycles ago the people of Israel chose Netanyahu over human rights or the rule of law. I am not near the point where I believe they have has a nation forfeited the right to exist but I have been edging ever closer to caring whether that nation exist or not.
The Israeli electorate has every right chose Netanyahu yet again but doing so will signal to at least this interested observer that they have chosen to stand for nothing to respect or favor.
1
They both seem to continually change rules, precedent, and whatever else happens to be in their way - now lots of people hate Israel and starting to feel that way about the U.S. As I’ve gotten older I’ve become disillusioned with our country - the rich have always ruled but with the Citizens United ruling, stolen Supreme Court justice, only 51 Senate votes to seat people in power(80 would be a step in the right direction). Just opens my eyes - our system of government is very primitive - sure there are other countries that have much better systems. But since I live here - let’s change it - make it better.
3
My thanks to Mr. Friedman for such an informative article. For most of my lifetime, Israel has been an example, virtually alone in the Middle East, of a vibrant, thriving democracy. Nowadays, however, we see Lord Acton's phrase about power's corrupting influence playing out in Bibi's despicable actions to hold onto the reins of power. He needs to be de-throned.
9
No it's not tough; the fact that we spend so many NYT editorials/columns (and Tom's attention) on a country of 6-7 million people half a world away is the bigger anomaly/threat. Israel's bombardment in Lebanon in 1982 is the main stated reason by Osama (on video nonetheless) for his personal motivation for Sep 11 (a fact that 99.999% of Americans are unaware of because of an overall media reluctance to state it). This country and its advocates (not just Jewish) has had an outsize negative impact and ripple effects on US security and treasure (hiding the reason for 9/11, the neocon/media push to invade Iraq, squandering the post-9/11 goodwill, spending $5 trillion+,1 million plus loss of life in Iraq and Afghanistan) - and still gets an outsize amount of its largesse and protection. The likes of this lobbying influence will never be equaled. But the arc of history bends towards justice, and even if belated, fairness will be visited upon the Levant one day.
123
@M I agree, but understand that in the sense of realpolitik, Israel is basically the worlds biggest American military base.
1
No, the major reason bin Laden gave for the 9.11 massacres was the presence of American troops in Saudi Arabia. But if the Israeli bombing of Lebanon was the reason, what does that mean? Do you offer that as a justification for attacks? Does American foreign policy need to meet the approval of terrorists? To blame the 2001 attacks on anyone but their perpetrators is a great wrong.
As for the lobby that "will never be equalled", I find that many, particularly non Americans, vastly overstate the power of the pro Israel lobby and underestimate how compelling Israel's story is to Americans.
I write this from Girona, outside of Barcelona, a city whose Jewish population was decimated in the 14th and 15th centuries. The Jewish Museum here has a map of Europe with a dot for every land that violently expelled its Jews. The map is filled with dots. And that does not include other recent horrors such as the Holocaust or the anti Jewish riots that led 750,000 Jews to flee Arab lands for Israel in the 1940's and 1950's.
So yes, the Palestinians deserve a democratic state of their own, but so do the Jews. What does your arc of history ask of those who not only would deny the Jews their state, but also add another dot to the map?
5
@MSo Israel bombed Lebanon in 1982, and therefore…Osama Bin Laden (a billionaire) decided to blow up the World Trade Towers, plus other buildings, plus the Pentagon, plus the Capitol building (He missed, but intended to do so) PLUS four downed airplanes full of innocent people….TWENTY YEARS LATER?
In a totally different country?
Maybe Americans are "unaware" of this because we were ATTACKED, brutally, over some 20 year old political issue in ANOTHER PART OF THE WORLD?
And that is an inexcusable act of terrorism and war? and maybe you cannot make peace with people that violent and devoid of all morality?
2
Trump and Bibi are both existential threats to democracy. But Citizens United beats both of them. Our own judiciary, the supposed guardians of our Constitution, unlike that of Israel, blatantly ripped democracy right out of the hands of the people with that singular decision. Additional nails have been pounded in since, but its over. For now.
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@David
Agreed, with the recent gerrymandering decision being a 30 penny spike on top of Citizens United. The oligarchs have successfully stolen our country from its citizens.
28
@David May you point at least one point in American democracy, which now is weaker then three years ago?
2
@Jonathan There have been many efforts by the Trump Administration to weaken our democracy, from the Kobach commission designed to use non-existent voter fraud as an excuse to limit voting rights to the unrelenting assault on our free press. I also would direct your attention to laws passed by Republicans that aim to disenfranchise minority voters. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/03/us/politics/voting-suppression-elections.html. Then there is the fact that the DOJ has stopped enforcing the Voting Rights Act. The evidence of the tragic weakening of American democracy is there for anyone who cares to see it.
11
Friedman just forgo to point what out what he surely knows:
Barak is not a serious political figure in Israel anymore. His ability to attract votes is minor.
What Israel needs is for the center left bloc to pull a few seats away from the right/religious block. Barak doesn't really help with this.
And the Blue and White party continues to avoid talking about the Palestinian issue, because they think making it a campaign issue will lose them votes.
In any case, even if Blue and White "wins", the will need at least one religious party and Leiberman's party to form a coalition. Not very likely that coalition will make peace.
But it may slow down creeping annexation of the West Bank.
3
@DH
They might not make peace, but they might avoid making more wars. They also seem unlikely to attack the judicial system.
1
@DH "Friedman just forgo to point what out what he surely knows:
Barak is not a serious political figure in Israel anymore. His ability to attract votes is minor."
Then what did he mean by "Barak cannot win this election."?
Supreme court is the answer. Trump will eventually go, hopefully in 2020, the worst case 2024. Supreme court will stay at a minimum 5-4 republican for another generation by which time only the rich and big corporations will have the "votes".
14
@Henry Mann
The SC is making Swiss cheese out of our laws.
It has already passed Hobby Lobby, which says that corporations have "religions", and the people who work for those corps must follow the dictates of what that corporation believes. In this case, the BUSINESS believes that contraception is a means of abortion. Because the BUSINESS's religious belief is that 2-celled zygotes have more standing, legally, than an adult woman then the adult woman must forego contraception or pay for it herself, against the laws of the ACA.
Throw in corporate money, that Trump can stack that Court any way he wants, that there are no ethics codes for the SC, that the SC has already ruled that public tax money can be used to build church playgrounds, and that Mitch McConnell can illegally refuse to even bring a nomination to the floor.....
No.
The Supreme Court is no longer a solution for this country.
It has now become one of our gravest problems.
4
Sounds very familiar and also very scary indeed. it really makes me lose my faith in democracy. Is one to believe that a majority of people in these two great countries support leaders who are by widespread accounts downright corrupt and unethical?
34
Barak is a nice man. He should run! He will make the long-awaited peace.
"Ironically, only if Barak’s agenda shapes this election and produces a coalition government ready to address Israel’s most existential issue might Trump’s peace plan get a hearing and catalyze change." But Trump's peace "plan" is DOA from the beginning. Ever since DJT pushed moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, the US position as a somewhat neutral arbiter was destroyed. Nothing in the world will now allow the Palestinians to accept the US as a broker.
31
@pmbrig - I agree...my first thought was WHAT Trump Peace plan...after taking away all bargaining chips especially regarding Jerusalem ... the only plan out of Kushner is to throw money at real estate developers to gentrify the Palestinians out of whatever bits of property they have left. Laughable if it weren't so sad as well as dangerous. Would love to see Bibi fall from power. Would be better for Israeli democracy and Palestinian stability and calming.
1
Tom's article and the comments below are very interesting and thought provoking. There are so many threats to both the Israel and US societies and way of life, and so many "all you have to do is" solutions. Note, we have an "all you have to do is President" and you see the results. However, smart money would have both Bibi and the other one winning again.
Hamas and their supporters are the biggest threat to democracy. The Arab World has benefited from the decades of unrest in the Holy Land. They could always blame Israel for its lack of Democracy when not one of their own countries was democratic. Compromise might have been possible 2 generations ago but when HAMAS destroyed the infrastructure that Israel left behind in Gaza, they also destroyed any hope of a fair and lasting peace. Bibi and Trump both rely on the radical right to stay in power but the radical right exists because of the actions of Hamas and their allies.
14
@Arlene: And the radical left exists because of the radical right. What difference does that make in finding solutions to the problems?
14
@Arlene
Compromise was in place via Oslo until an Israeli assassinated Yitzhak Rabin. Nothing has come of compromise ever since.
1
Tom notes that Netanyahu is held hostage by small, extreme religious and settler parties in building a coalition.
Israel is a constant lesson on the problems with proportional representation electoral systems, especially with their low threshold of 3.25%
For those who say proportional representation gives all viewpoints a voice, I say it's better that fringe extremist parties don't have a voice.
12
@Thomas If you don't have PR giving proportionate representation to smaller groups, a first past the post system can give them either disproportionate representation, which has been the recent trend in the US (Tea Party) and UK (ERG), at least, or no representation at all, which can make them even more extremist, even violent.
No electoral system is perfect - they all depend heavily on the qualities of the individuals who participate in them.
14
@Thomas
A two party system isn´t necessarily better:
Then interest driven groups will not establish their own parties but join one of the two big ones and built up a faction, like European Research Group in UK (Pro Brexit extremists, faction of Tories) or well known Tea Party in US as faction of GOP for example. The result is the same: a high potential of leverage for extreme positions by obstruction, to put it mildly. The theory, a two party system was a protection against extremism is refuted by this long ago.
Israel is a good example that a multiparty system without any further changes is not the solution for UK or US indeed. But this doesn´t help.
The problem in both cases is a leadership problem. Such pressure groups are easy to circumvent by cooperation over their heads. But exactly this is excluded by leaders of mainly conservative parties in GB, USA and IL for different reasons. So they are turning themselves to hostages begging their "hostage-takers" to tell the amount of the ransom or - in case of Brexit - what to do. The problem is the reasons why they do so. As long as they get majorities for this behavior - they do, as you know - it will be a lasting social issue.
4
@Enda O'Brien I think almost two hundred years of co-existing side by side of American democracy with that of Europe proved on multiple occasions that AMerican political system is way more superior over representative democracy
2
Yes Yes - Familiar ring indeed! What I was thinking as I was reading through the whole article. Thanks for asking!
12
Unfortunately, Mr. Friedman is neglecting to recognize or to mention the drastic changes in the Israeli electorate psyche. This is now the most religious, fanatic, paranoid, living in denial Israeli nation in its 70 years history. Even the language itself has changed to that direction, the common expressions. It's more and more becoming the Jewish Iran. And the USA, being the most religious Christian country in the west, is not that far behind from becoming the Christian Iran.
31
@Johan Cruyff An interesting analogy to suggest that Israel could become a Jewish "Iran" and the U.S. a Christian "Iran" rather than a Jewish "Saudi Arabia" and the U.S. a Christian "Saudi Arabia". Iran has a multi-party political system and holds competitive elections unlike Saudi Arabia that holds no elections and has no tolerance for religious diversity. Jews in Iran have a guaranteed seat in the parliament. The "Bibi" Israel would apparently guarantee nothing to Palestinians and be more of a Jewish "Saudi Arabia" than a Jewish "Iran".
31
@Johan Cruyff Are you the footballer? Anyway, Israel has moved to right. The main reasons for that are the intifada which followed the Oslo Accords and Hamas repeatedly firing rockets into Israel after Israel withdraw from Gaza. I'd like to see Bibi defeated in the next election, but the PA needs a real leader, not the corrupt Abbas. Salam Fayyad was good, but he was pushed out. And there's the problem of the terrorist group Hamas, which controls Gaza.
@Vid Beldavs
You actually think Iran has a real multi party competitive election? And the Jewish member of Parliament is free to express his opinion?
Well, I own a bridge in Brooklyn I'll sell you.
1
As a relatively new (7 months) American- Israeli I live in Tel Aviv-Yafo. In the US. People talk about diversity but here there actually is diversity. I teach in a local school servicing children from many countries races and religions and my grandchildren attend a similar school not far away. The educated people that I know don’t like Bibi or Trump.
However, there are now many Israelis who came from totalitarian states led by strongmen. There are also many from France who have current first hand experience with antisemitism which I’ve never known. They know fear and they know one man rule and they’ll take the second to give up the first. A very bad situation.
38
This one is powerful, Mr.Friedman at his very best. Difficult case to make against, as a rule. And I really do not want to get into the argument on Bibi or Trump. I like them both, despite of themselves!!!
However. But.
A brief aside: I have been reading for the third time A Safe Haven (Radosh & Radosh), book on the subject of creation of state of Israel. Every time, I find things I missed. What we take for granted today, even perfunctory, the creation of state of Israel, not actually so. That Balfour declaration was just that, a declaration. And some little bits.
Palestinian side of equation today is not much, if at all any, different then what it was in 1946-47. It cannot and should not be part of this discussion on Bibi and Trump and democracy or such. Then they rejected giving the Jews mere 1200 sq miles, they rejected cantonization, they rejected partition. Not sure what gives Mr.Friedman hope considering Arafat rejected 97% of what they asked fifty years later. To bring Palestine into this discussion is a red herring.
To frame this issue in terms of Netanyahu corruption (no argument there) when we know the failure to form a new government is solely due intransigence by the Orthodox Jews on the issue of conscription, smells.
In my view, directly opposite of Mr.Friedman's, the mirage of peace in Region Palestine is just that, a mirage. I don't don rose colored glasses. Peace will come when one side is victorious. I hope its Israel.
16
The only path to peace is a single state, secular with equal rights for all including of course, vote.
@ParagAdalja Palestine in any discussion on Israel can never be described as a 'red herring'. Yes the Palestinians have rejected much 'offered' by the Jews and their supporters over the years and yes, nothing is different in their thinking since 1946/47 when the state of Israel was about to be imposed upon the region. Your hope for Israeli 'victory' neatly summarises the hypocrisy of American and Israeli democracy.
@ParagAdalja And you call that Peace ?
It seems it is rather hypocrisy for war .
Trump and Bibi are very skilled in manipulating the darkest political forces in their respective societies. Fear and identity are powerful motivators, and both are willing to put a match a very incendiary cocktail.
As an American, I have no control over who wins in Israel, nor can I control its West Bank policies. I wish I could stop contributing my tax dollars to that government, but my so-called US Congress seems more interested in the wellbeing of Israel than it is that of the US.
My main concern right now is helping rid the US of the Trump Criminal Organization’s, control over the Executive Branch. We barely have a functioning republic, with the Don issuing executive orders on every issue on which he can’t get s law to govern it.
At what point did we eliminate rule-of-law, anyway? I must have missed that memo.
70
But Don’s executive orders don’t always sell. Lately the Dem candidates are saying they are going to govern with EO’s. If they don’t get gun control legislation in 100 days they will do it with EO. If this doesn’t happen they will issue another one. It doesn’t matter, he is a shoo in.
Everything Friedman writes is true, but it completely bypasses the reasoning of those who will vote for Netanyahu: The economy has never been better and Israelis have never been safer.
Helping the Palestinians and preserving the independence of the Supreme Court may be the main issue for progressive American Jews, but it is not how most Israelis will vote.
25
I began wondering myself a couple of weeks ago.
Yes, it is a tough one!
5
"... if Bibi wins, the Trump peace plan is dead on arrival."
By the above statement, Mr. Friedman is suggesting that Mr. Kushner may come up with a plan to "address" the 70 year old Israeli-Palestinian conflict that would be unacceptable to Mr. Netanyahu (or his coalition); hence it would be "dead on arrival." Either Mr. Friedman's sense of humor is getting rusty or he has been watching too much FOX News.
Mr. Friedman knows and clearly understands the nature of the relationship existing between Mr. Kushner's family and Mr. Netanyahu's. He knows that when Mr. Netanyahu visits Mr. Kushner's parents, he sleeps in Mr. Kushner's bed. In the context of Israeli culture, that is tantamount to saying that Mr. Netanyahu is viewed as an uncle or older brother to the young Mr. Kushner.
Then it would be completely inappropriate for Mr. Kushner to draw up a "peace plan" without consulting Mr. Netanyahu and without fully reflecting his views on how to achieve peace. In that case, there can be no reason for Mr. Netanyahu to find Mr. Kushner's plan unacceptable.
15
@Eddie B. However, the Israelis were silent during the sad show of Prince Jared staged to garner support for his $50BN initiative.
The headline doesn't fit the column, since Friedman focuses almost exclusively on Netanyahu. Only in the last sentence does he suggest a comparison between the two politicians.
But we already know enough about Trump to make the comparison ourselves. Rather than ranking these two men on a scale of awfulness, however, it seems more fruitful to analyze their similarities. The most important likeness, and the one that explains the others, stems from their indifference to the welfare of the political system that sustains a free society in their respective countries.
Neither man respects the rule of law when it threatens his own interests. Netanyahu wants to strip the supreme court of its ability to judge him, while Trump seeks to convert the department of justice into his personal law firm. Trump relies on the corruption of the Republican party to protect him from the other judicial threat, impeachment and removal from office by congress. Netanyahu hopes to create a coalition in the Knesset that will enact laws to protect him from corruption charges.
For both men, the danger their behavior poses to democracy ranks in importance below their own political survival. Amoral politicians concerned only with their own interests threaten a free society the way termites endanger a house. In both cases, the risk can be contained, but no eliminated.
76
I’m sorry to say that Netanyahu is invincible right now, which is today the best example of why governments need term limits.
Two reasons he’s invincible: security and the economy.
On security, he has contained Hamas and other terror groups; he is cooperating effectively with the Palestinian Authority and the West Bank is relatively quite; Hezbollah is unheard from; he is standing his ground against Iran; he is friendly with Trump, who has rewarded him with the embassy move and recognition of annexation to the Golan.
The economy is booming; shore drilling for natural gas has been a huge success; Israel is not only energy independent, but has a huge surplus; and the tech and medical industries are exploding (no, not literally).
The Palestinian issue is not nearly as important to Israelis as it is to Jews in America - as for example, championed by Tom Friedman. Most Israelis, and Palestinians for that matter, do not see the two state solution as a reality in the near term, and have stopped thinking about it.
The primary issues for Israelis today are security and the economy, and with things going so well on both fronts, how can he lose?
Term limits.
34
@Steven Roth
Will this blessed state continue? Economies are more complicated than what Trump assumes it to be? Who will pay for the deficits created by his tax cuts? American aid will shrink and Israel may not have a great economy anymore.
11
@Steven Roth, No Bibi has not contained Hamas. Just ask Israelis who live in close proximity to the Gaza border. Most are farming communities who are experiencing the daily onslaught of incendiary devices burning their fields, hot-houses, and crops. Bibi has done nothing for them. He rewards Hamas by allowing Qatari money to pass through Israel right into the hands of Hamas. As for the booming economy, very much like the American GOP it rewards the few, with his cronies reaping the rewards of his many corrupt sweetheart deals. This is at the heart of what he stands indicted for. Most Israelis struggle with the high cost of living, with no end in sight.
2
@Steven Roth One has to wonder, then, why we continue to give Israel $3 - $6 Billion every year when they have such a strong economy and such good security. I know some kids on our southern border that could us a bit of that money, or how about a little for our infrastructure. Instead we are shamed by the strongest lobby in Washington into giving poor Israel all this money to protect them from so many hostile neighbors.
1
No, it's NOT a "tough one". Trump leads a country of over 300 million, for starters, not to mention the infinite number of other factors making a comparison between the countries both men lead utterly incomparable. Of course they're both ANTI-DEMOCRATIC and both have done untold damage to their respective countries but that's where the genuine comparisons stop.
21
This isn't a tough call at all! Israel is going reactionary-right anyway, and doesn't remotely have the international clout that the U.S. does. America's hard-right lurch puts this country on a knife-edge tipping point, and if it falls further to the right, we're just done for--and the global order will suffer mightily.
That means that a second Trump term would be disastrous in a way that Netanyahu's continuation just will not approach in gravity.
The progressive left in the United States knows what it has to do--but will they do it? Many are the signs of intransigence and refusal to compromise among Democrats, so the unthinkable may happen, building on the unimaginable swerve of 2016.
44
@Robert " Israel is going reactionary-right anyway, and doesn't remotely have the international clout that the U.S. does." Netanyahu has played Jarod and Trump just like the Saudi's, giving them both the clout they need.
27
In one major respect at least, the right wing in Israel is no different from that in the US, or anywhere else for that matter. The right is contemptuous of democratic governance or for the constitutional traditions and institutions upon which any viable democracy must rest.
If Netanyahu wins in August, or Trump in 2020, citizens committed to a rules-based democracy with the guarantee of judicial equity and accountability can kiss their political hopes good-bye.
53
I truly do not know why you would think Trump or Kushner would be upset about the failure of a/the two state solution. If such a solution exists anymore, and it is a big IF, I doubt that either Kushner orTrump are particularly concerned. Jared's presentation in Bahrain, at which there was no Palestinian representation, made little mention of how to ensure an equitable division of land or power. His ideas had everything to do with phantom economic benefits that would supposedly accrue to the Palestinians eventually, but would more likely provide economic benefit to the US and its mideast allies in at least the short term and likely longer than that. Any political solution was to be presented at some later date as yet unknown. And if you are looking for a bridge, I am sure I can find one to sell you...
30
@Barbara There was no representation of Palestinians because Fatah refused to send any. Those few businesses people that did go were arrested
We seem to assume that democracy is too strong to succumb to the corruption of one man or a supine party of enablers. But this has been the rule more than the exception throughout history. This was known by the ancient Greeks. And yet we mythologize and remake our own history as the exceptional democracy that can survive as long as half of us vote every other presidential election and excuse our ignorance of current events as not wanting to sully ourselves with matters that are not relevant to our mundane lives.
What is wrong with us humans? These are features of humanity. Not a bug. Democracy is fragile, hard, and demanding. None of those things appeal.
80
@Alan The political philosopher Sheldon Wolin coined the term inverted totalitarianism in 2003 to describe what he saw as the emerging form of government of the United States. McCall
Elections have consequences ...
1
Ha; great question.
Democracy, what exactly is it? Well, we should be well informed and compassionate citizens that want to help the greater good. None of this is about selfish gain or what's in it 'for me'.
No, the idea of 'We the People' is inclusive and communal. That's why this capitalist nation, with robber-barons and their lack lobbyists and lawyers, politicians and judges, is so destructive to the idea of belonging in a community. the idea of equality, the prayer of compassion.
We are so afraid of the future of robots and virtual intelligence and aging populations; so afraid of the billionaires rise into the oligarchy of autocracy, so fearful of our fall from the dream of a good and comfortable middle class life, that all bets are off.
The folks that tell you who will be elected 15 months before? Wha? Crazy. We have no idea.
The climate, the weather, the seas rise. The fight for a decent life, whether the yellow vests in France or the protesters in Hong Kong. The rising opposition is here. Rejoice. Let us fight for love over the criminal love of money. All countries. All people.
Not Trump, not Bibi - the People.
43
"Let us fight for love over the criminal love of money."
Gobs of money will keep this mess from getting much much worse or it won’t and just go away from this planet forever either way. Money must be modestly shared among all or cease to exist along with all who crave it. It's only something if you give it away, like love.
1
It starts with the ideology and the people who embrace it. A leader who taps into this is self-serving. In this regard, both Bibi and Trump are a threat to Democracy. There is no sense to asking who is bigger a bigger threat as the threat eats away our democracy at whatever rate.
11
how about those that rejected the last US election? "not my President", they screech.
My progressive friends love freedoms and democracy; just not when the election results go against them. This is the threat against democracy.
Trump acts like a buffoon. Yet, he is upholding the rule of law and the constitution.
Progressives loudly and proudly are trying to subvert rule of law by electing Attorney Generals who will flout rule of law and decide who and how to prosecute. Progressives are loudly trying to stack the judicial benches so that "opinions" can swing the law; rather than the law as written.
again, this is the true threat to our democracy and rule of law.
10
@Joe Yo "Trump acts like a buffoon. Yet, he is upholding the rule of law and the constitution."
Congress bears the responsibility to declare war, not Trump. However, Trump is waging economic war against Iran whose purpose is to drive Iran's oil exports to zero so that forces apparently known to John Bolton can seize control from the present leadership.
In 2010 when the IAEA notified the Security Council that Iran had violated limits set within the nuclear weapons inspections agreement that Iran had with the IAEA the Security Council authorized severe sanctions against Iran. The U.S. Congress passed the Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and
Divestment Act of 2010 authorizing the sanctions.
In 2018 the IAEA certified that Iran was in full compliance with JCPOA and the CIA confirmed that Iran had not violated JCPOA and was not developing nuclear weapons. On the basis of no verifiable evidence president Trump adopted John Bolton's plan for regime change in Iran, exited JCPOA, and imposed unilateral sanctions against Iran without authorization of the Security Council. Trump sanctions are more severe than the 2010 sanctions authorized by Congress, yet they were imposed without the consent of Congress using emergency powers of the president. There was no emergency. The CIA had confirmed that Iran was not developing nuclear weapons. If Bolton's plan works Iran's economy will collapse, chaos and war will be consequences of the breakdown of the rule of law in the U.S.
4
@Joe Yo
He is not my president because he calls democrats criminals and bad people. It's as simple as that. he has chosen to represent a minority of bellicose Americans and rebuff the rest of us. His "values" (does he have any?) are not my values.
1
@Joe Yo
Democrats are voting for state attorneys General who are democrats, just as republicans vote for republicans. Who state AGs choose to prosecute is up to their prosecutorial discretion.
The reason for “not my president” is that he lost the popular vote and - whether he was involved or not - there was foreign interference on social media which undoubtedly helped him. Ironic that Donald started talking about fake news when in fact he benefited from it.
You wrote “Progressives are loudly trying to stack the judicial benches...” Maybe you didn’t notice, but we have a Republican President and a Republican Senate. Your statement is quite simply not possible. And if you’re referring to states, the majority of US states have Republican governors and legislatures so how exactly are “Progressives” stacking the courts? You’re turned around 180 degrees.
Israël and the Palestinians long ago passed the rubicon. Without a two state solution they embarked on the Dance of Death. Following that, Israel was headed toward autocracy and a civil war. And I don’t mean a civil war between the Israelis and the Palestinians. A civil war between Netanyahu and the settlers on the one hand and a Democratic Israel on the other.
If Israel were to change course and create a Palestinian state, they would have to close many settlements to make Palestine viable. But removing settlers would spark the civil war. Therefore, creating Palestine is off the table. That bridge was crossed in 2000.
Hence the Dance of Death. The only viable Israel in the Dance of Death is a totalitarian Israel.
32
@Maurie Beck. You are assuming that Palestine would accept any Jewish state and not use any territory given to it as the staging ground for attacks. To see the folly of this reasoning look no further than Gaza.
2
@Maurie Beck. Moreover, "Settlers" were moved out of Gaza in 2005. No Civil War ensued.
1
we need to focus on this country and its existential choices........our plate is full here.
do we clean house and create a more caring society ?
do we demand lower and middle classes can have a decent life and future ?
do we protect ALL our children ?
Israel must figure out its own destiny. We need to focus all our energies here.
11
Trump, for the the simple reason that Israel needs right wing war hawks in our government.
No president like our donald, no bibi.
6
Netanyahu has been unable to form a ruling parliamentary majority while here in the U.S. we have Donald Trump posing an immediate "existential threat" to our Constitution and its "rule o f law." These are the Ten Commandments requiring his impeachment that are being ignored by Nancy Pelosi and her House Democrats in a calculated political risk to our democracy:
1 Obstruction of justice (in the Mueller report);
2 Unindicted co-conspirator ("Individual-1") in a felony with Michael Cohen in election fraud;
3 Violation of the Constitution's emoluments clause (with continued ownership of government leased hotels); and
4 Its "separation of powers" by obstructing all House attempts at Congressional oversight;
5 "Crimes against humanity" resulting in 12 deaths of immigrants held in inhumane and unsanitary condition in concentration camps on our Southern border;
6 Seeking and accepting aid from a foreign power to win the election (in the Mueller report);
7 Supporting his Counselor, Kellyanne Conway, in defying multiple violations of the Hatch Act, requiring her dismissal according to a Trump-appointed Special Counsel; and
8 Having his Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, disobey a Congressional request for his tax returns as required unconditionally;
9 Working with his Attorney General, William Barr, to undermine the CIA and FBI by investigating them for "spying;" and
10 To circumvent a Supreme Court ruling prohibiting a census "citizenship" question.
41
Yes they do Mr. Friedmand. You could almost replace Bibi's name by Trump's and it would pretty much be the same.
10
Sorry, Tom, but I don’t “admire” Israel. Used to but no longer. And for all your parsing of Israel’s politics—Netanyahu versus Barack, etc., etc.—I find an article about Israel that quotes not a single Palestinian representative to be totally lacking in credibility.
29
What peace plan?
The one by the clueless son-in-law from an orthodox crime family? Or the one by the (also clueless) president who panders to people for whom the second coming of Christ is the main goal?
Israel is close to my heart, and a beacon of good in the region. It will be beyond sad if they squander their morality.
35
That ship has sailed. Our ship is casting off.
2
Israel, a beacon of democratic ideals in the Middle East is quickly morphing into the theocratic dictatorships it fought against with its blatant suppression of minority population.
41
@F. Ahmed: Israel has 20% of its population as Araba.
Most are Muslim, but some are Arab Christians.
Arab Israeli CITIZENS have every right of citizenship, including voting and serving in the Israeli military.
They are not oppressed or suppressed.
Your statement is provably false.
2
If Bibi wins, Trump gets re-elected and the British make Boris Johnson their prime minister, it won't take very long before WWIII starts in the Middle East. Unfortunately, I bet British Bookies would tell you the odds of that happening are good.
14
I think American Jews should continue to support a two-state solution. I guess if Israel did what until recently was unthinkable and form an apartheid state that included all of the West Bank then I would think most American Jews should strongly condemn it and work to undo the damage. Hopefully that worst case scenario will not come to pass and the two-state solution will remain a possible option after this election. The Palestinians need to have their own state for any hope of peace. Many Palestinians believe it is their land and they will never give up fighting for a least a significant portion of it. Netanyahu and the other Israeli right wing extremists must face that fact and come back to reality and start once again working for a two-state solution.
14
Thank you for using (perhaps coining?) the expression "creeping annexation". That's what it is, and only a Pollyanna or a genuine "true believer" would attempt to argue otherwise.
As for Trump's and Bibi's political philosophies, I think each of them would walk through a cardboard cutout of the other in chalked suits without leaving a mark. Both can be understood only under a lens that discriminates the ageless urge of "L'etat, c'est moi!"
15
Bibi and Trump are two sides of the same coin.
Heads I win, tails you lose.
18
I have been reading one of the Israeli newspapers for the past few weeks. I had to stop because it felt too much like the news in the U.S. Only one dose of a right wing dictator is way too much to read about as it is.
14
When is the congress or whoever controls this country going to stop pussy footing around with Trump and his criminal gang and throw some people in jail where they belong. It has been going on since he and the Russians stole the Presidency. I for one am sick of this fake prez and senate. McConnell and his ilk are just a bunch of fascist dictators. Wake up America and save what is left of our democracy.
46
Israel : The Only Democracy over the place there
Israel its the only democracy "whatsoever" over the Middle East.
So any argument that doesn't take it in account, its about to lose its basic rational and true ground
Israel : The Only Democracy over the place there
8
@Mark Lebanon is also a democracy. How often people forget that.
1
@Mark
Its a democracy the same way Apartheid South Africa was a democracy. They have elections for the chosen people. The non-chosen people dont get the vote.
So its not really a democracy. 50% of the population cant vote.
1
My question is simply, are Bibi and Trump the problem or are they more likely symptoms of the problem (the greater threat to democracy). After all we, the voting public, put these men in office. The Israeli public has supported Bibi's expansionist policies , ethical lapses and suppression of the basic human rights of the Palestinians for decades longer than the U.S. has supported and has countenanced Trump's greed and his contravention of the basic humane treatment of illegal immigrants to the U.S. If I were to point the finger at someone as being the problem, it would more likely be at the uneducated and uninformed voters that put these men in office.
22
@LaVelle Messiah
Understand the following
- there were outside international influences that pushed the US election. Remember Russia? Trump is a buffoon that was the result of so many bad issues it is mind boggling including Russia, gerrymandering, Citizens United.
- the reason there will be a new election in Israel is because Bibi could not get a coalition. That is Parliamentary democracy working - not being bamboozled.
- the one Palestinian that did opt to go to Bahrain was punished by the PA. As I remember the PLO would not attend.
- peace plans have been presented to the Palestinians more than once and have been met by Intifada and terror.
- the PLO has no interest in boosting the economy of its citizens and rather pays terrorists and festers hate of Jews.
- the Kushner peace plan was DOA per Abbas before it even got off the ground
- Arabs live in Israel, are part of the government while Abbas says Palestine will be "Jew Free".
- Last but not least or rather most important the goal of PLO, Hezbollah and Hamas is the destruction of the State of Israel. If you don't believe that then look at the tunnels and horrific fires being set by HAMAS in the south after Israel withdrew.
So Mr. Friedman - where is your balance?
@Maddi
1. Re: Outside influences on the U.S. elections: These "outside influences" manifested themselves on social media; Facebook, Twitter, and so forth. The fact that many voters relied on these sources of (dis)information to "educate" themselves instead of the Times, Post, WSJ, and the many other credible media sources enabled the "outside influences". So, again, I lay the blame on the gullible, uneducated and uninformed voters and not the outside influences.
2. Bibi first came to power in 1996. After over twenty years in the public square, Israeli voters must understand who this man is and yet have continued to keep him in power. There is no other explanation than to accept that the majority of Israeli voters support his expansionist policies through the building of settlements on Palestinian land and the suppression of the rights of the Palestinian people to have their own state.
3. Golda Meir and the many brave heroes that fought the Yom Kippur war that led to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 must be turning over in their graves when they see what the democracy they fought to establish, which included and gave equal rights to Palestinian and other Arab citizens, has descended into an Apartheid state.
4. And Peace Plans! Put yourself in the position of the Palestinian people and look at them objectively from this perspective and than talk to me about Peace Plans.
A pox on both of them, dragging their nations into the gutter of ego-driven power.
57
Who is a bigger threat to democracy? Neither Bibi nor Trump, though God knows they have a lot to answer for. But, no, it's the mob that supports them, that cares nothing for democracy and rule of law, that doesn't even care that they themselves are taken advantage of so long as the people they resent suffer cruelly. They delight in the permission the leader gives them to vent their hatreds. They are not bothered by the leaders' moral failings because, despite their surface piety, their leaders are doing what they themselves would do it they had the chance.
774
@Victor
Unfortunately Israelis, regardless of political affiliation, know that the winner of the Israeli election wont be able to make peace with the Palestinians. That is because the Palestinians no longer have any elections. Hamas violently expelled the Palestinian Authority from Gaza and will never allow an election that puts their rule at risk. Meanwhile Abbas, the President of the PA, has undemocratically extended his "term" year after year because he (quite correctly) has assumed he and his cronies can't survive an election. Mr. Friedman's analysis would be more complete if it even mentioned the lack of a credible Palestinian negotiating partner and its effect on the electability of anyone from the Israeli Left.
31
@Victor
You hit on my reaction to this essay.
Why can't Barak win this election?
"The main barrier to this vision is Israel’s world-class judicial system, free press and civil society. So the right wing has to emasculate them. Barak spotlighted that connection for all Israelis."
Don't Israelis value their judicial system, free press and civil society? If they do, why wouldn't they vote for Barak?
If most Israelis vote for Netanyahu and don't value their judicial system, free press and civil society, then Israel is not what Americans want to believe it is.
And if Trump is re-elected in 2020, then America is not what we want to believe it is either.
57
@Victor The real problem for democracy starts with the people who are not able to recognize that ones compatriots may hold absolutely different opinion on something is going in their country. Then they start to complain , after loosing an election, that people are wrong. Once you support democracy, you must accept will of the majority, as long at that will are not contradicting basic human rights and freedoms. Period.
8
Both 'leaders' honesty believe that they should be 'leaders for life.' Both are so full of themselves and afraid of being called on it, that their fear of being found out determines every move they make, not for their country or its people, but for themselves. Both have assumed control of once noble examples of courage, freedom, independence and strength and squandered their obligation to carry those traditions forward at the expense of their all too fragile egos.
This too shall pass. But at what expense? This is not the lesser of two evils, it's the combination of them both.
30
An important opinion piece on Israel.
My knowledge of Israel is not exhaustive. As many non-Jewish well-wishers of Jews and Israel, I have been of the opinion that Netanyahu could lead Israel into it's eventual ruin.
One way or another Israel has to accommodate the Palestinian rights & needs, probably with more than they deserve. Palestinian demands tend to be unreasonable. Their gripes may appear justifiable, which the world buys, regardless of the reality behind it.
Netanyahu seems to look at Palestinians with contempt, which enrages them.
In 2000, Arafat was close to agreeing to a deal. But then he feared he would be assassinated by his hardliners. And it fell apart. Now that's water under the bridge.
Ehud Barak, if he wins may not solve the problem. But it will improve the sentiments between Jews and Palestinians, which in itself is a big deal, after so many years of Netanyahu's hardline rule.
28
The only difference between Trump and Netanyahu is that one is Jewish and the other isn’t. Beyond that, they’re both vile, corrupt leaders who value their grip on power more than maintaining the integrity of democratic norms and institutions.
On a personal note, as long as Netanyahu is in power, I’m living proof that an American Jew can be anti-Israel.
226
@ASD32, I personally cannot believe that a thoughtful American Jew can or should be anti-Israel. As an American Jew, I happen to be opposed to the present Netanyahu-led government of Israel but not against the existence of Israel itself. There is a difference. For instance, I am opposed to the present government of the United States. Does this in your opinion make me anti-American?
4
@JerryV
If you read what I wrote, you would have seen that my anti-Israel feeling is directly linked to Netanyahu. I’m not against the existence of Israel. Far from it. I’m against Netanyahu who makes it very difficult to support Israel politically. A lot of American Jews feel the same way.
10
@ASD32 My best friend, who is Jewish, told me many years ago that "Not all Jews are Zionists". It took me many years to fully understand what she meant, and following the career of Bibi was one of the main learning tools. Yep, I can see how it's possible to support the country and its people without supporting the current policies of the "leader".
2
Bibi is smarter, but has a second-rate military.
2
Trump.
He's leader of the world's largest, wealthiest, richest and older democracy. There's a lot more to lose.
No country or world leader ever asked Israel to help them defeat a fascist in a World War.
Many of us think Trump would refuse to do that.
Netanyahu is a menace to Israeli democracy.
Trump is a menace to U.S. democracy, Israeli democracy, and democracies and decent representative governments throughout the world who may someday benefit from our support - or our example.
22
I agree entirely with Mr.Friedman, but there two tangential issues of vocabulary I would like to address.
(a) I object to Mr. Friedman's use of the word "emasculate" as a synonym for "weaken." Why not "eviscerate" instead. There is, or should be, nothing specifically testicular about authority and the use of it.
(b) I was glad to see Mr. Friedman use the word "apartheid" in this piece. We all remember the hullabaloo that arose when President Carter used the same word. Perhaps it's more permissible to use that word if you're Jewish (but even then someone will accuse one of being a self-hating Jew). In any case, telling the truth is essential to meaningful debate.
79
@Boneisha
Interesting point about "emasculate" versus "eviscerate".
Re "apartheid", you missed the boat. Mr. Friedman did not say or suggest that Israel is an apartheid state. He quoted Ehud Barak, who expressed concern that with Netanyahu in charge Israel may be on a "slippery slope" towards apartheid. Currently, however, Israel remains a vibrant democracy with many political parties representing a broad spectrum of political opinions, interests, religions and ethnicities -- including Christian Arabs, Muslim Arabs, Druze, Ethiopians, etc.
10
@Jonathan The problem isn't the political engagement within Israel. The problem is dealing with 2.5M non-Israelis in disputed territory. Jordan and the UN have no actual sovereignty over the WB, and if it is to become independent or become part of Israel, the rights of the current residents need to be respected. It is not at all clear that Israel can actually do this; there doesn't seem to be the will for starters. Similarly, it is abundantly clear that local political leadership is unable or unwilling to respect the rights of the Palestinian people. So it seems that another solution is needed. There is no way that annexation or the status quo can continue without continuing to degrade the Palestinians. Similarly, if Israel walks away, like in Gaza, there is a similar disaster. Under these circumstances a slow march on the current path and towards apartheid seems inevitable. Ehud knows this is a slow march, not a slippery slope.
1
Thomas, if you can answer this one you will win the prize. Good luck.
2
As an American who happens to be Jewish, it's the United States I care about. I gave up on Isreal when Begin came in - Bibi is the logical extension. If I have to die on the streets because I'm rebelling, the US is where I will do it.
102
Thank you for your meaningful contribution. You are the model of sane patriotism.
4
Netanyahu, like all ruthless corrupt autocrats, will do absolutely anything to remain in power. Partnering with Kihanist terrorists is the low-point of a grubby corrupt career of sleazy politics.
21
Honestly, I am getting tired of reading about the problems of Israel. God Bless them and keep them. May they stay safe,well-armed and keep the Golan. I mean, they have nukes, subs and missiles. Do the math.
However, they are obviously well on the way to becoming an apartheid state. And that will make things difficult.
Meanwhile,we have major problems of our own, not the least of which is millions of Bible-Thumpers who want Israel to fight wars to reach its so-called "...Biblical Boundaries...", in which event Jesus is supposed to comeback.
80
I’ve always found Bibi revolting. Something about him seriously rubs me the wrong way. Hopefully he’ll be thrown out. In the meantime, my fellow American Jews should stop sending any and all charitable funds for Israel. They don’t need it. And until common sense prevails in the land flowing with milk and honey, my tax dollars don’t need to flow there either.
34
@Citizen
I have always disliked Netanyahu. Too slick and fundamentally dishonest, in my opinion. But that is not a reason for withholding charitable support for Israelis in need. Instead, that might be a good reason to direct your financial support to Israeli organizations that fight for democracy and civil rights, and against corruption.
Do the elements of this story have a familiar ring to me. I'm not hearing the twinkling of bells, more like the thunder of a gigantic R.K.O. gong being struck by a large mallet.
2
"every Jew who cares about the Jewish state will eventually have to make an ethical choice about whether or not they can continue to support Israel."
I made that choice long ago and no longer support Israel. Friedman apparently thinks that most Jews are willing to accept a little corruption and slow, covert strangulation of the Palestinians, but won't accept Israel doing openly what it has been doing covertly for years. Is it OK with your conscience it's the actions are not blatant and you can pretend it's not happening?
75
I don’t like either trump or Bibi - but Friedman and most commenters miss the fundamental issue because they do not even address the Palestinians’ position. Bibi’s policies are counterproductive but there is no Palestinian partner for peace. The Palestinians have rejected several offers which would have produced a two state solution. Hamas proclaims that it considers all of Israel to be occupied territory and Abbas says the same thing to
his people. Palestinians rejection of the peace offers in 2000 and 2008, the israeli casualties in the resulting intifada, and Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza and Hamas’ use of Gaza as a launching pad for rockets have made Israelis realize that the status quo is better than the alternative now. If Israel withdraws from the West Bank and Jerusalem, Hamas will take over and the area will be a launching pad for future attacks. The international airport, Tel Aviv and all of Israel will be in mortar range, for which Israel has no defense. The Palestinians will then be much closer to their oft-stated goal of eliminating the israeli Jews.
3
I doubt that Trump cares about the peace plan in the slightest. If Netanyahu and Co transform Israel into an apartheid state in which the Palestinians are so oppressed that their voices cannot be heard, trump would call that a peaceful solution and take credit.
30
@RP Take a look at how the PLO repressed its own before you cast stones. They live in riches and have turned down peas offers over 50 years. Take a look at how Arab states and so many African states have normalized relations with Israel. and please stop with the apartheid argument - Arabs live in Israel with full rights. Nelson Mandela took a look and said that Israel was not an apartheid state - do you need a more valid spokesperson. Palestinian voices need to be heard by the PLO and HAMAS first. That will be when the "from the river to the sea" chant dies and the people come first.
1
The two are apples and oranges. Though in this case, we have one rotten, corrupted apple bent on spreading its rot to all its neighbors, and on the other hand we have a giant, inflated, disgusting orange squeezing citric acid over the eyes of asylum-seeking children and rape victims.
9
Trump and Bebe are both threats to democracy! Trump because he is basically ignorant and in love with dictators, murders and strongmen. Trump did not even read the Iran deal because he does not read but took Bebe's word for it and withdrew the country from it. The US breached the contract at Bebe's pleadings, not Iran. Now we have that mess to deal with because of Bebe...Bebe is too hard line, too entrenched and has been there too long. There will never be peace in the middle east with Bebe. I pray the Israelis do not re-elect him and go with the new guy! Breath of fresh air new out look...Israel will be much better off without Bebe or trump!
16
Yes.
Israel should adopt the Palestinian form of government.
Friedman seems to have no problems with it.
4
@Tuco
Well said - Friedman forgets "from the river to the sea Palestine will be free" not to mention the corruption of the PLO at the expense of the people living in the West bank.
2
Neither is a threat to democracy, Thomas. Netanyahu has worked hard to protect Israel and its democracy from the enemies that completely surround it who want to "push the Jews into the sea". He has successfully secured Israel's borders which is something Trump hasn't been able to do yet due to Dem liberal obstruction. Yes, Trump has many faults but in 2020 he only needs to be the lesser of the two evils. Faced with opponents who ride the Dem liberal socialist crazy train line, I suspect Trump will end up being reelected.
11
@Mike
I read comments like yours and I weep for my country. Apparently, forty-odd percent of our fellow citizens more or less agree with you. More's the pity.
You fulminate about the "Dem liberal socialist crazy train." I hope you'll spend some time in the coming days reading our Constitution and our Declaration of Independence. A good number of conservatives of their day tarred the Founders as wild radicals.
While you're at it, I hope you'll do a bit of research on the meaning of socialism. There are no Democratic candidates for the presidency who are advocating socialism. There is a difference between good stewardship of our shared resources, of working together for public goods just as hard as we work for our individual good ... and socialism which advocates that government control all of the apparatus of production.
I hope that you're wrong about Trump's reelection in 2020. The man is a nascent fascist - and before you bust a gut, google Lawrence Britt's "14 Elements of Fascism". Mr. Trump fits the bill. Think about it when you cast your vote. That is what you are voting for.
BTW, did any of your forebears serve in WWII? Remember what that was about?
27
@Mike "Dem liberal obstruction"? Say what? Netanyahu had no problem taking billions of American tax payers dollars to secure Israel's security. Now he has been shown to be corrupt just like his BF Trump and his family friend Jared. BTW Trump org and Kushner org along with BiBi are going to rake in millions when they develop the West bank and Golan Heights. If everyone knew the real truth about the sleezy corruption by these "so-called" leaders--neither would be re elected--they would be "locked up."
12
@James Thomas I think you'll be doing a lot of weeping, James, come 2020. There are worthy social programs like Medicare and Social Security but many Americans draw the line at open borders, reparations, guaranteed incomes for those who have no use for work, and I could go on. That fits the definition of socialism for many Americans. I don't care for many things Trump does but I'll take him over the loony Dem left any day. As regards WW2, yes, they served because the US and its allies were attacked. Social justice had nothing tyo do with it. Regarding history, perhaps you forgot that when a ship containing Jewish refugees fleeing Hitler's death camps, Roosevelt (a Dem liberal) turned the ship away. The Brits did the same thing in Palestine until things came to a head when the Jewish Irgun blew up the King David Hotel, the Brits' favorite watering hole. The Brits cut and ran, and Israel was born.
Bibi is a threat to the survival of the planet. He represents the flood. If Liberman could stop fighting with Gantz, they could represent the dove.
1
Bibi and Trump, both so alike and so deserving of resounding defeats.
16
Tom, no one could have been more wrong than you about the invasion of Iraq. You applauded it...blue thumbs and all. Let it go, man.
You are disqualified from opining on the Middle East.
Sit down.
14
Trump's corruption makes Bibi look like Pericles!
OH -And the Israeli's would not vote for trump as street cleaner.
They require a modicum of intellect and courage.
Bibi gave his entire life to preserving Israels survival AND Israel still faces 24/7 security challenges.
Israeli's do not want a Hamas controlled west bank along with Hamas in Gaza - Hezbollah /Syrian proxies in Lebanon and now in Syria.
Israelis know they can depend on BIBI to place their security first!
Israeli's know Bibi will never compromise their security
9
Question is flawed. You are obviously not a Palestinian to call Israel a democracy.
17
Bibi and his sidekick in DC are like two peas in a pod, two ‘obverse’ sides of the same ‘fascist-leaning’ coin.
In other words, both are as detrimental to rule of law and democracy as a full-fledged dictator in the West masquerading as a ‘scion of democracy’.
Electors beware...or be perished in the doomsday scenario that ensues with the Third World War in the MidEast.
5
Bibi stands for dictatorship and so does his protégé in Washington (DC).
Time to call a spade a spade and get the respective countries back on the path to redemption aka ‘sanity’.
11
@MASA. How is winning Democratic elections "dictatorship"? You want a dictator, look at billionaire Abu Mazen in the 15th year of his 4 year term and his 17 million dollar palace.
1
I want to thank Mr. Friedman for introducing the term "creeping annexation of the West Bank" into the public arena. This is the first time any Jewish pundit/analyst has called out Netanyahu and the right wing parties who support him explicitly. Every time anyone dared mention 'annexation' as a the goal of LIkud, that person was deemed an antisemite. Mr. Friedman is not antisemitic nor is he a self hating Jew. He is a thoughtful person who struggles with the irreconcilable concept of democracy and a Jewish state. Israel can be one and not the other.
I personally favor a single secular state defined by a constitution.
22
Tom Friedman has made it clear over and over that he cares about the Palestinians first and foremost. Good for Tom. I care about Israel and the Jewish people. Israel, while more democratic than any other country in the Middle East, is not a democracy. It wasn't designed to be. Israel is the Jewish State; an insurance policy against the repeated and historic persecution and murder of Jews. No one who isn't Jewish is ever going to receive the same rights as Jews. That's the way it should be. It's a tiny country whose sole responsibility is to protect Jews at all costs. Fortunately, for the Palestinians they already have a state: Jordan. As for Netanyahu's fate, I'll leave that for the Israeli citizens who live on the front lines facing terror day and night to decide and I will respect and support their decision. The opinions of self hating Jews are irrelevant.
11
Mr Netanyahu has seen the weakening if not sundering of rule of law in the US and the power of a tame Supreme Court to follow the reactionary line and deliver across-the-board results, so of course, why not do the same in Israel? Or Poland? Or Hungary? Or Turkey?
Personality-based leaders across the world have watched Trump's confounding of accountable government in the US with great interest.
Israel is just one canary in a very dark mine.
7
Good synopsis of Bibi's corrupt character and behavior. One correction - Trump and Kushner weren't snookered by Netanyahu. Trump has no peace plan, and it should now be clear that neither does Jared. Both have been supportive of Bibi because Trump wants political support of religiously extreme American Jews. In the process, they have helped destroy any hope of an independent Palestinian state. That leaves one single state, or else permanent abuse with continued theft of land and political and social suppression of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
9
It is hard to tell whether orthodox jews or christian evangelicals are trying hardest to dismantle their respective democracies.
43
Very informative piece Mr. Friedman! And yes it had a familiar ring. How partisanship’s placed above individual debates and votes can easily quash free one person-one vote public democracy—whether at the Public’s ballot box and or the Public’s Officials Representative level.
This anarchy follows a particular pattern. Put trained operatives with personal agendas (arrogant power) in prominent control of public information, laws & institutions. And at some point such democratic corruption becomes the new normal. Getting along within the status quo rather than demanding social justice. The only difference between Israel and the US governmental crisis is the former blossomed from a single leader’s drive to escape public justice whereas the latter was a longterm strategy to reshape gov. Justice into private matters by secret schemes and collaborations.
Most Americans cannot distinguish anymore between discrete individual, local, state or federal concerns. Only the first is a personal choice the rest is by majority votes. The fact you have confidence in Israel’s judiciary is promising. In the U.S. all are Federal public institutions seem to be managed mostly by Constitutionally corrupt, inept & spineless leaders!
2
Like many of the rest of the world's major problems/crises, this loops back to Trump. As an enabler of Bibi, Trump helps to ensure his survival- the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital, the "peace plan" with no political solution, etc
2
"If Bibi wins, the Trump peace plan is dead on arrival. Bibi can only survive politically now with a coalition that would reject any hint of power sharing with Palestinians, no matter how feeble."
Trump peace plan? Isn't Netanyahu already spoon-feeding Trump's Israel policy to him? How many nanoseconds do you think it would take Trump to sign on to whatever Bibi were to propose after the election?
3
Both Trump and Netanyahu use external threats to maintain their base and stay in power - immigration and trade for Trump - Palestine and Iran for Bibi. Netanyahu precedes Trump but has become more reactionary while watching Trump get away with same here. They both feed off each other. Netanyahu is strategic and smart, Trump is neither. Both are dangerous - Bibi though, to me, is the more existential threat to his country. Through him, Israel may not remain the beacon we hope it to be.
8
The biggest threats to democracy anywhere are ignorance, greed, complacency and fear among their populations, all four sharply increasing nowadays with the help of a spate of the most vulgar politicians Western and non-Western democracies have ever known - Trump, Bibi, Johnson, Salvini, Orban, Erdogan, Duterte. Structural reliance on the lowest common denominator has long been recognized as democracy's Achille's Heel. It is time to put a stop to this relentless dumbing down of politics. If democracies don't reform soon, they will vanish. One of my pet solutions would go a long way toward fixing this aberration: single mandate elections at all levels. Why is this practically never discussed, including in the NYT, The Atlantic, The Washington Post and super-brainy think tanks?
7
The saddest part is that there is such a strong competition in a race to the bottom between two figureheads of once Democratic nations.
Both Bibi and Trump abuse power, act cynically and scandalously, garner support with scapegoating and fear-mongering, and seek to disenfranchise those citizens they consider undesirable or second-class.
These two seem like a case study in dictators and failed leaders.
9
Trump is a bigger threat to democracy due to his love of self above ALL else.
8
The global rise of illiberalism and the undermining of independent judiciaries and a free press is the challenge of the age.
Authoritarianism isn’t like some coat you can try on and then cast aside if you don’t like it. Once you don that mantle, it stays on your back through all seasons!
2
No mention in this article about the fact that the leaders of the PLO and Hamas are on record as wishing to destroy, eradicate and replace Israel. They do not want to have normalization with Israel in any form. No suggestions from Mr. Friedman, either. To overcome the rejection and hatred emanting from these terrible leaders who refuse to come to a peace with Israel.
9
I think the sad truth is that things in the Middle East will have to get worse for them to be able to get better. People need to give up on the delusion of Jews and Muslims there living side by side peacefully with equal rights. Two groups of people can't live next to each other and work together in the same government if they utterly despise each other and each side would kill the other if they had a chance. It just isn't going to happen.
Furthermore, giving people lectures on world peace and handing out flowers and teddy bears isn't going to change things--too much blood has already been spilled. People there simply can't trust each other at all.
Does this mean some people will have to be uprooted and relocated? Yes. Will this happen peacefully? Probably not. Will this be a terrible process? Absolutely. I just don't see another way out of the endless cycle of violence and oppression.
If anything, hopefully people in this country can observe this disaster play out and see what happens when hatred and violence between two groups of people gets out of control. If the political and racial tone in this country continues to get worse, we may also cross a point of no return...
3
Mr. Friedman being so well informed about Israel, you having spent some time there? I myself am an American, Israeli, Jew. My family can be traced back to arriving in Jerusalem to 1803, a matter of fact my family had a home opposite of the Western Wall. Don't know if you had the wonderful opportunity to have a family with small children living in Israel,able to not enjoy the very fact that someone is constantly trying to kill you and yours.Whether it be from rockets from Lebanon,Syria, Gaza, or picking up pieces of once was a person blown to bits in a suicide bombing.Don't know how many of your friends you grew up with but ended up burying them in their 20's, or the children of your friends,killed in endless wars?The reality of Israeli's can't be understood living for a year or 2, never serving as almost all Israeli's have done.I also don't know if you speak fluent Hebrew,if you do you would know that there are to many songs that Israeli's sing begging for peace,never to the death of Arabs.With all that, Israeli's keep choosing BB,WHY?I suggest you go to the Galilee in some of the Arab villages and speak to the people there,ask them about Israeli's,peace,you would be shocked.As for Jews here in America, they have left Israel along time ago,sadly hoping their new religion of tikun olam would keep them safe. Which after what has gone on in the halls of Congress good luck to them.Israel has always said when there is someone to talk peace with we are here.
10
That's a trick question! Trump would probably be the greater threat, because of his tendency to be enthralled by dictators, his affinity for bigots and nativists, and so on. But Netanyahu does not actually have a democracy right now, as the Palestinians who live under his rule cannot vote. So, Netanyahu cannot be a threat to a democracy which does not exist.
6
@Dan Stackhouse: of course Palestinians don't vote in Israeli elections -- and would never WANT to do so....they do not see themselves as CITIZENS of Israel at ALL.
It would be like claiming that Iraq and Afghanistan are part of the US, because we occupy them militarily and therefore, all Afghans and Iraqis are US citizens and entitled to vote in US elections.
1
To answer your question, Mr.Friedman, many details of this sorry saga sound depressingly familiar.Attorney General Mendelblit’s accusation that “ you corrupted public servants working under you” strikes so close to the heart of charges against Trump who is trying to corrupt public servants.He had an Attorney General Sessions,who actually did the right thing and recused himself from overseeing the Mueller probe and Trump was livid- he found a way to get an Attorney General who would be his Attorney- not someone who would act in the best interests of the country.Trump tried to corrupt his White House Counsel Don McGahn, asking him to obstruct Justice- the list goes on.I am afraid that Trump and Kushner will do everything in their power to help re-elect Bibi, their good friend.Because of the dire consequences you predict, I pray that Bibi loses-I am not Jewish,but a vibrant and lawful Jewish State is in the best interests of all of us.
7
To answer your question, Mr.Friedman,yes a lot of the sorry saga you describe sounds depressingly familiar.Attorney General Mendelblit said of Netanyahu ,you corrupted the public servants working for you! He could just as easily have said this about Trump.Trump had an Attorney General who actually did the right thing and recused himself from supervising the Mueller Investigation-Trump flew into a rage and searched for an Attorney General who would represent his interests.He tried to get his White House Counsel to commit obstruction of justice.The corruption of public servants is continuing.Certainly Trump and Kushner will move heaven and earth to accommodate their good friend,Bibi Netanyahu.I join you in praying for the Jewish State,not because I am Jewish,but because a vibrant and lawful Israel is in the world’s best interest.
3
To rally Israelis to the protection of his power, Netanyahu sees a route through escalating the fissures between Israel and Iran to armed combat . . . fought to the death by American troops.
9
Bibi. He is an ideologue. Trump has not pivot point and is all over the place.
It's not tough at all. Which one has more at stake?
And because Netanyahu has so completely snookered both Trump and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, they don’t understand that if Bibi wins, the Trump peace plan is dead on arrival.
There is no peace plan. There is a Kushner/Trump "plan" and I use that term loosely.
Kushner, Trump, Netanyahu are not honorable men. They are all quite despicable.
4
Thank you for that courageous writing.
2
Trump and Netanyahu have important things in common: They are both crooks and authoritarians. They both have unsatisfactory children. Trump: Don Jr., Eric, and Ivanka; Bibi, his son, Yair.
However, there is at least one important difference. No ambassador would ever say of Bibi that he is inept, radiating insecurity, chaotic. Bibi is better organized than Trump, and a lot clever, politically. He is more of a danger to Israel than Trump is to the U.S.
3
Ninety-five percent of the GOP - a major United States political party for more than 150 years, the party of Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt- don't care that our President, Donald Trump, is a crook and grifter, who tries to corrupt everyone around him. Among those who care the least is the so-called Christian Right. Why do we expect Israel to be better?
14
Mr. Friedman, with all due respect, you are missing the point. Israel has shifted to the right in the span of the past 30 or more years. There are the ultra orthodox who are demographically growing, for the obvious reasons, they have large families. They tend to vote en mass for their party with very little deviation. There are the ultra nationalist, racist, xenophobic settlers, who have infiltrated the corridors of power, and have an outsize influence on government policy. Finally, there is the majority of Israelis whose roots are Middle Eastern, who have a deep seated, irrational hatred of the Ashkenazi Labor Zionists who they blame for what they think is their long disenfranchisement and access to the corridors of power. Their semi literate ilk are very well represented in the Likud party in the Knesset, They don't care about the rule of law, nor that Bibi and his cronies and family are clearly corrupt. Human rights and Liberal ideals are foreign to them. They vote with their gut feeling, We liberal Israelis are an abject minority. Many of our educated and professional children are settling in foreign countries where they can pursue their careers and lives without seeing how our fragile democracy is eroding before our very eyes.
19
Still another misstatement of fact and a purposeful falsehood of large dimension common to these pages. This is a republic, not a democracy. That means the individual is the prime mover, not the "society", or mob. The individual is "subject" to very little -- in opposition to "progressives" who seek control over everyone. This is the crux of the antipathy toward the nanny state advocated by the intellectual lilliputians certain scribes have sacrificed their integrity for. The country's politics are foul, it's participants and panjandrums even more so. Nonetheless we are forced to choose and we prefer entertaining buffoonery to snotty self-righteousness. Every time.
3
Israelis are not known for being timid political players, and the idea that Bibi is going to destroy democracy there is a bit laughable.
He may try to bend the law here and there, like most politicians (including Tom's hero Obama), but that's a far cry from the destruction of the country that Tom is crying about.
More to the point, Bibi is obviously still somewhat popular, even after all these years, mostly because he has been right about the most serious threats facing the country.
And that means a lot to the citizens of Israel.
9
Isn't this like the question "which is worse: having an atomic bomb hit your house or a hydrogen bomb hitting your house?"
3
I would say Netanyahu is in the lead, but I wouldn’t count out DJT.
Thomas Friedman really needs to brush up on his basic civics. The United States is not a democracy--we're a Constitutional Republic. Democracy was the last thing the Founding Fathers wanted. Israel, by comparison, has a parliamentary system where the voters elect a party instead of an individual candidate. The head of the winning party gets to form the next government. Despite his failure to form a working government Bibi Netanyahu is still Prime Minister until another round of elections can be held.
Neither the United States nor Israel is a democracy.
5
Don’t be pedantic. “Democracy” in this context simply means liberal democracy, a broad term capable of including both parliamentary governments and republics. It’s a system that features fair elections, a separation of powers, an independent judiciary, and a free press. All of these are endangered by the likes of both Netanyahu and Trump.
Bibi was right about the JCPOA. He is right about land for peace being an delusional sucker's bet. Th notion that Israel and the Palestinians can co-exist in peace has one problem - reality - as in Sharon's foolhardy and ill advised decision unilaterally pull the IDF out of Gaza which created the power vacuum which HAMAS filled and now we all see the result. A terror state armed by Iran reigning rockets and death and bent on the destruction of Israel. Yes reality says that Bibi is correct. We are not all going to stand together on a hill side singing in a Coca Coca commercial about smiles and love and rainbows.
8
@American Akita Team
Israel's top generals and Mossad leaders disagree with you on all of these points.
9
These two are the only ones with guts to lead their countries.
Obama got a horrible deal with Iran. Iran killed 600 of our soldiers in Iraq with IEDs and Obama gave them a 1B pallet of cash.
To solve the Iran issue, all Trump needs to do is give Bibi the thumbs us to bomb Iran. Israel bombed Syria’s and Iraq’s nuclear facilities and it worked great - they never got nukes.
3
@Jay Lincoln: actually Obama gave Iran a $150 BILLION pallet of cash. Not $1 Billion; that would be chump change.
That $150 BILLION is what Iran is developing nuclear armaments with.
As always....THANKS OBAMA!
1
Quick answer: Donald Trump. America’s institutions are far older than Israel’s even if they aren’t the cleanest.
Israel has enemies in its region wherever it looks on any day. America doesn’t unless one includes Mexico—and if they’re our enemy, it’s largely self-inflicted. If America collapses from within, the wealthy will celebrate and we’ll slide into a semi-feudal state. America will return to its former greatness and glory.
Oh, we’ll be a Russian satellite but MAGA nation will love being forced to learn a new language; learn a new political system; be forced to give up football for soccer; be forced to give up beer for vodka; be forced to give to give up NASCAR for walking; be forced to learn a religion other than a dozen or so conflicting denominations. Oh, it’ll be wonderful. They can’t wait. Remember the tee shirt slogan; “I’d rather be Russian than a Democrat?”
They’ll all be unwilling Communists but what they want or don’t want won’t matter. Oh; and there won’t be any guns; the militias will have them. No buy-backs, either. Don’t turn them in before the deadline? Shot on sight.
Won’t it be great? And Donald Trump will shine Vladimir Putin’s boots.
8
Sadly, very sadly, I think Israel may already have lost itself, and were it not for crazy evangelicals in the US, it might have been lost our support.
7
I mostly agree. But calling the Blue and White Party center left is like calling the Libertarian Party in the United States center left. The Blue and White Party is basically Likud without Bibi and with a little milder tone.
2
It is not for the Armchair Columnists and Opiners herein to determine the fate of Israel. It is up to the citizens of Israel and they have time after time elected Benjamin Netanyahyu to be their Prime Minister. Israel is a country under existential threat from Iran, and has major problems with Hamas in , Hezbollah, Hezbollah, and terrorists.
It is up to the people who brave these threats and live in Israel to choose their leader, regardless of our opinions...
8
@Ronald Ginson
You're right that Israel will have to choose its own leadership, but everyone in the world has a natural right to express his or her opinion on the leadership of his or her own country as well as the leadership of every other country. You're also right about Israel's existential threats, but Netanyahu works against Israel's national security by working against the JCPOA (Iran Nuclear Deal) and other ways. It's not just me saying this; Israel's security leaders say the same thing.
4
For all their destructive and cynical similarities, Netanyahu is the bigger threat.
Bibi is considerably more crafty and clever than Trump.
Bibi claims to be speaking not only for Israeli Jews, but for Jews everywhere. And unlike Trump, Netanyahu claims anti-semitism is behind any resistance to his agenda.
Finally, Netanyahu can outsource some of his dirty work to Trump. Moving the Embassy, winking at settlements, the hard line with Iran. He gets his platform and can hide behind Trump.
Donald is just as diabolical, but could never pull this off.
2
Bibi and Trump ,crime families cashing in Jared has a billion in his pocket from Qatar ,Trump has Saudi funding his properties and as long as Trump stays in office he cannot be indicted , ditto Bibi , birds of a feather.
3
Thank goodness, Mr. Friedman, we have fellow people of the Jewish faith like you, that will be the downfall of our people. Thank you so much.
4
I have relatives who live in Israel. They support Netanyahu because he's an unapologetic realist. For all his faults he has had the courage to abandon the so-called Peace Process. It's not in Israel's self-interest. Imagine a scenario where the Arabs won the 1948 war they initiated against Israel. What would have happened? Here's what Arab League's Secretary-General Azzam Pasha promised would happen: "This will be a war of extermination & a momentous massacre which will be spoken of like the Mongolian massacres & the Crusades." How can Israel negotiate with that kind of mentality? They can't. Palestinians don't want peace. They've had a chance for peace many times. They've chosen violence. They're where they are today because of past actions. I'm not a fan of Trump. But he's right on Jerusalem. He had the guts -something liberals & progressives don't have- to recognize reality. The so-called "Peace Process" is a fraud & the people who have pushed it are self-deluded charlatans. In the past 70 years, trillions have been spent trying to solve this problem. We've engaged in horrifying wars with no end in sight because of our involvement in the "Peace Process". A 2013 Harvard study estimated that future medical care & disability benefits for veterans of these wars will exceed $900 billion. What do we have to show for it? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. The Peace Process was a sham pushed by people who should have known better. Netanyahu isn't going to waste time on this anymore.
8
@Bill Brown
Netanyahu is no realist, he's entirely political. Israel's security leaders all said that the JCPOA, also known as the Iran nuclear deal, served Israel's interest and should be upheld. Trump and Netanyahu, for purely political reasons, opposed the deal. Trump's pulling out of the JCPOA is one of the worst blunders in human history and may result in Iran having nuclear weapons. As for your "how can you negotiate with people like that," This pretty much summarises the views of many if not most Black and White South Africans, and many if not most Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland. It also summarizes the views of many of the citizens of Israel and Egypt before 1978. But in all three of these conflicts, people found a way to put aside decades of violence and hate and make peace. Israel and Palestine can do the same. I'll grant you that to a significant extent, the peace process between Israel and Palestine has been a sham, but that is because of sham leadership on both sides. And that's why it's time for Israel to toss out its sham leader.
9
@Bill Brown. Alas, ascribing any agency to Palestinians to make peace is verbotten amongst the western left. Acknowledging that Palestinianism is an annhilationist movement first and a nationalist movement second just doesn't make for entertaining copy.
1
@Joel Rubinstein Israel will never throw out Netanyahu until the Palestinians throw out their sham leaders if you can call them that. The day the Israeli's lose the so-called balance of power they will be wiped out by Hamas who have promised as much. If you look at the last 70 years the Palestinian status quo has been nothing but terrorism, instability & war. Israel moved out of Gaza more than a decade ago. It has been rewarded with constant attacks emanating from a territory where the infrastructure of mayhem & destruction — rockets, tunnels & the like — is the only growth industry. Israel has no incentives to make any concessions. And they won't until the Palestinians decide they are committed to peace instead of perpetual war.
1
Bibi gazes across the Atlantic, envious of cherished American democratic ideals, where the president is already above the law.
3
Mr. Cohen is wrong. President Trump's peace plan has nothing to do with the elections and their results. Behind the headline "Peace Plan" there is nothing. It's a bluff. The Palestinians know it and the Israelis know it, including Prime Minister Netanyahu. Of course, the elections in September are fateful, and this time, the center-left's chances of winning are not bad, unless Netanyahu, with Trump's support, creates a security tension and frightens Israel's citizens. Similar things have happened in the past and the crisis with Iran can provide the reason. This is the main danger at the moment, an attempt by the Netanyahu-Trump duo to invent a narrative of a serious security threat, thus removing the two important issues from the political agenda: the serious accusations against Netanyahu and the declared intention of the Likud party, the settlers and the ultra-Orthodox, to annex the West Bank in order to create what they call "Greater Israel" and thus eliminate a chance for peace with the Arabs. Michael Karpin is the author of "The bomb in the Basement - How Israel Went Nuclear and What That Means to the World". It was published by Simon & Schuster.
14
Clearly, Trump thinks America is his personal enterprise. There could be no greater threat to Democracy.
62
Every once in a great while, Friedman knocks one out of the park. This is one of those times.
And the final sentence is the metaphorical equivalent of -- after rounding the bases -- picking up home plate and walking away with it.
142
Both America and Israel will survive their "leaders".
Trump and Bibi have much in common.
However, there is no electoral college in Israel.
Unlike the US with its two parties, Israel has proportional representation and currently allows any party ( there are over 20) to be in the Knesset if it polls 3.25% of the overall vote .
If that were the case here, we would have a much more representative body instead of two parties controlling everything, gerrymandering, controlling voting, etc.
Israel is a much more democratic state than the USA.
And Bibi has taken advantage of this by forming coalitions ( no party can rule without the cooperation of others). He knows how to cut deals, pit group against group. He is the consummate politician.
As of July 17, 2019 will have been in power longer than any other PM of Israel.
He knows how to hang onto power and will be around long after Trump is gone, may it happen speedily in our days.
16
@simon sez: In the American system as it exists now, every voter has a specific member of Congress and two senators they can contact in order to deal with any federal problem, or to in any way make America better as they see it. There's no guarantee that these legislators will do anything, but the more people in any district or state who speak out about a problem, the more chance their legislators will respond. If we brought the Israeli system to the United States, and we had a unicameral legislature with 435 members from more than a dozen parties, each representing the entire nation, then I could not lobby "my" representative because there would be nobody in Congress who represents my city. I think American voters have much more ability to influence the U.S. Congress between elections than Israeli voters have to influence the Knesset between elections.
5
@simon sez: Israel has a parliamentary form of government.
Also, by US standards....Israel is TINY in both size and population....about 8 million people.
That's smaller than JUST New York city!
1
Both care only about winning - whatever government is irrelevant.
Trump cares about Bibi cause he needs the Christian and Pro Israel vote, Bibi cares about Trump 'cause he wants Trump to bomb Iran rather than himself
So Bibi gets the embassy moved and the endorsement to annex the West Bank and Trump gets the votes he wants
Both only care about being in power, and nothing else
But of the two, Bibi has the better chance to get re-elected
34
A vision of safety has resulted in a big blind eye. I’m no fan but when was the last explosion on a bus? I judge lightly
3
@Ed Latimer If you go to the southwest corner of 42nd Street and 5th Avenue in New York City, there is an imposing edifice known as The New York Public Library. I believe your comment can be found in said Public Library in the Section called, "But The Trains Ran On Time."
18
@Ed Latimer Exploding buses? That depends on who you ask and which drone they were sent from. Myopia is no way to go through life, Ed.
2
"familiar ring"? I thought he was talking about the USofA. Also remember that the Trumps at the Western Wall were afforded more accommodation by Israelis than American reform Jews.
In this the settlers seem to be offered a choice between annexation and having to get out altogether. There must be a compromise position here that they would consider.
On the key issue, the survival of a Jewish State, the Palestinians still refuse to negotiate. While hard to fathom, as long as this continues, it's up to the Israelis to arrive at a fair position for all parties, even knowing that any concessions they offer will be seen as a victory by the Palestinians. Who would be an honest broker and does it matter? The U.N. was an honest broker in the S. China Sea, and the CCP refused to accept their solution.
1
I find it odd that Mr. Friedman cites threat to Israel's judiciary as one of the dangers posed by Mr. Netanyahu. I know nothing about Israel's judiciary, but my experience of litigating here in the US taught me that the judiciary needs to be controlled and held to account -- something we do not, and cannot, do (as I learned by suing a bunch of federal judges for fraud, judges gave themselves a right to act from the bench "maliciously and corruptly" (in Pierson v. Ray)
Accordingly, here in this country at least, federal judges simply replace parties' argument with the bogus argument of judges' own concoction so as to decide cases the way they want to, not the way they have to. In the US, due process does not exist -- certainly not in the judicial process.
Which tells me that any and all efforts to put limits on what judges can do is a very worthwhile pursuit.
To its everlasting shame, our press refuses to talk about judicial fraud rampant in US federal courts. Apparently, Israelis have the courage to look into their judges' decision-making process, and try and stop the runaway abuses caused by uncontrolled and uncontrollable judges.
Bravo to them -- the much-maligned Mr. Netanyahu and Ms. Shaked including.
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@Lev Tsitrin: The U.S. constitution details the existence and powers of our judicial system. You or I may be unhappy about many decisions of our state or federal courts, but at least judges have state and/or federal constitutions to look to. In 1896, the Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that "separate but equal" accommodations were OK, but in 1954, the Supreme Court saw the error and overturned it in Brown v. Board of Education. But Israel doesn't have a constitution, and is not likely to adopt one, and the Knesset has the power to limit the authority of the Supreme Court, even for blatantly political reasons. While there are many U.S. Supreme Court decisions I disagree with, I am glad that we have a Supreme Court whose justices are sworn to uphold the Constitution, and I'd take that any day over having no constitution at all, like Israel.
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@Joel Rubinstein
I am afraid we are talking apples and oranges here. What's important to me is absence of "due process" in the "judicial process."
So I am talking about "process," and am unhappy that it does not exist.
You seem to be talking about unhappiness with the outcomes. Those are two very different things.
My point is, that judging must be done according to parties' argument -- not according to judges' argument, as is done now. Under no version of "due process" can judges be parties to the case; yet under present arrangement they are -- and decide cases for their own argument. Simply put, at present judging is arbitrary. I find it outrageous.
You, however, seem to accept as self-evidently that judges would seek particular outcomes, and that judging is political in nature. I cannot disagree more.
As to the Supreme court of which you seem to be proud -- it simply does not exist. There is no such thing: 10,000 cases are submitted annually, and only 2% -- 200 are taken; so only 2% of the Supreme court exist. 98% of the cases are, in effect, decided by clerks -- whom no one vetted or authorized to judge (at the Supreme court level, no less). So much (or if you will, so little) for the Supreme court...
1
Bibi wins this round, hands down, especially given the geopolitical ramifications of the Middle East.
To say nothing of the impending Third World War, with Iran playing the role of ‘Austria-Hungary’ in this new conflict.
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Because Israel has a parliamentary system, instead of a two party system, there are a lot more parties that Netanyahu has to corrupt in order for him to be able to gut the country's courts or have laws passed that shield him from prosecution. Plus, in Israel, no-confidence votes which may result in new elections may be called at any time. In contrast, here Trump only has had to corrupt one party in order to stack the Courts. And the only way to get rid of Trump prior to the end of his term is through impeachment. So the answer to your question is a resounding Trump.
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Bibi is a bigger threat to his democracy than Trump is to ours. Israel's parliamentary democracy centralizes legislative and executive power under a single coalition; if Bibi wins, only Israel's courts stand in his way. In our system, if Democrats control at least one house, we can achieve a partial stalemate against Trump's destruction. And eventually, we will be rid of him.
16
While we cannot directly support political parties in Israel, there are a number of organizations that are on the ground supporting rights for all that we can help to fund. Do not just sit back and worry about the results of the election and its aftermath. Do something.
7
The main issue that Friedman missed is whether the growing but minority ultra-Orthodox community will do its military service or continue to get exempted. The vast majority of the country wants the ultra-Orthodox to serve, and Avigdor Lieberman's faction that once sat in the Likud majority will not join a government that will not require ultra-Orthodox military service. He's the kingmaker here, and it is because Israel is largely secular and nationalistic, not ultra-Orthodox and theocratic.
Once Hamasistan (oops, Gaza) and the West Bank work out their problems and there is one gun representing Palestine, Israel will have an actual negotiating partner. But not until then.
14
All the points raised by Ehud could be raised by whom ever
runs against Trump. They should do this instead of promising
nonsense that would cost taxpayers a fortune. Maybe Tom
Steyer will see the light.
2
Neither Benjamin Netanyahu nor Donald Trump are a threat to ' his democracy' because neither live in a democracy.
America is and always has been a very peculiar kind of republic. A divided limited different power constitutional republic of united states where the people are the ultimate sovereign over their elected and selected hired help.
The Founding Fathers so feared democracy that the only people who they allowed to vote were white men who owned property including black Africans and brown Native lands and natural resources. And they could only directly vote for and elect their representative in the House.
A constitutional amendment gave people the right to vote for Senators. But every state from a half million people in Wyoming to 39.5 million Californians has the same number of Senators. While the size of the House is capped to the disadvantage of more populous states.
Presidents of the United States are elected by the Electoral College. And individual votes cast in one state don't matter nor count in any other state.
Federal judges are nominated by the Electoral College President with the advice and consent of the Senate.
How did the 6 million Christian Muslim Arab Palestinian Israelis living under the dominion of 6.1 million Zionist Israeli Jews by occupation, blockade/siege. exile and 2nd class citizenship vote in the last Israeli election?
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@Blackmamba
You analysis is at least partially correct. Our system flirted with truer democracy for a while and started to win. Founding fathers fear of democracy and evolution to universal suffrage was hard. But a government elected at intervals that seem too long with piddling oversight. A government that has dense incomprehensible legal and legislative agendas, and making the elections a kind of blood sport in collusion with a profit hungry media, makes it a rather opaque to the common man. Once money gets to influence the election, our democracy fades into an Oligarchy as Robert Reich notes. We don't know who actually controls things but Trump's victory suggests Reich's Oligarchs. It is a return to Medieval monarchy and church control with different carrots and sticks.
Israel has not dealt with the US and South African problems of apartheid but has some unique ones as well, still, I admire those who fight for democracy.
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@Blackmamba
Best not to jumble things up, when you ask "How did the 6 million Christian Muslim Arab Palestinian Israelis living under the dominion of 6.1 million Zionist Israeli Jews by occupation, blockade/siege. exile and 2nd class citizenship vote in the last Israeli election?"
In fact, Israeli Christians, Muslims, Druze, Bahai, and every other religious minority in Israeli enjoy the right to vote, and do so. There are political parties specifically catering to Israeli Arabs, and there are other parties with a number of Israeli Arabs amongst their elected representatives in the Knesset.
On the other hand, Palestinians are not citizens and do not vote; instead their political solution would be found in a two-state solution, if and when both sides are finally able to broker a compromise and a deal.
Not to suggest that everything is perfect in Israel, or in the USA for that matter, or any other country that I am aware of. But it is always helpful to discuss actual facts and not made-up ones.
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@Jonathan
Since the State of Israel had it's first election, no political party is willing to even discuss having the Arab parties join in a coalition.
Imagine if 20% of the American population lived in states that constantly voted for a third party, but neither of the other two parties would work with it and so every election went to the House for final determination of the President. The two dominant parties would switch back and forth as their hold on the House changed, but 20% of Americans would have no significant role.
2
Both of them are taking their policy to some kind of friendship relation based on money and cheat !
1
A bigger threat to democracy? This one's easy -- Bibi. Because he leads Trump around by the nose. Bibi knows that Trump voters hate brown-skinned people, especially those with Middle Eastern ancestry, and they'll support any outrageous demand Bibi makes -- up to and including getting this country into a disastrous war with Iran.
Think Iraq, only exponentially worse. Thousands of our young service men and women will die needlessly, tens of thousands of Iranian civilians will die needlessly, and in the end, Iran will have nuclear weapons anyway. This is the future Trump voters and Bibi are giving us.
Oh -- and there is an added benefit to Bibi hoodwinking Trump into this disastrous war -- he is giving Trump the perfect excuse to declare a "national emergency" and call off elections before November 2020. And Trump voters will be deliriously happy, as they will have "their leader" rule our nation indefinitely.
Think it won't happen here? We now have internment camps on our soil, warehousing Hispanic infants and children indefinitely, with next to no public outcry. Trump understands he can round anyone up he wants now, and put them in a camp, and the sixty percent of us who are ostensibly against his rule will sit silent.
So Bibi is the bigger threat to democracy - because with the help of his ignorant lackey Trump, he is able to destroy his country's democracy and ours too.
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@DB Cooper Both 'leaders' have their Other, currently either Palestinian or Hispanic, on whom they try out their vile plans to see how the majorities will react, or even whether they will. As Martin Neimoller said after WW II: "First they came for the Communists, but I was not a Communist, and I did not speak out..." Maybe the most important political question of our time is simple: "Am I my brother's keeper?" Today, we are silent at our peril.
6
The familiar ring I heard: "But the American far right wing has a third fantasy in mind: controlling the country as a minority party without giving equal rights to all who live here. The main barrier to this vision is the U.S.'s world-class judicial system, free press and civil society. So the right wing has to emasculate them." And they have progressed too far with this agenda because of Trump and McConnell.
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@DJY
Robert Reich recently noted it is not the far-right it is the Oligarchs.
23
@DJY Please read Jane Mayer in a recent issue of the New Yorker. According to her report, the Mercers--the main right wing supporters of Trump--have a new parlour game based on Monopoly in how to take over the U.S. government (they actually did this). Their goal is a Government that is "small, ineffectual, and out of the way". That is also what A.O.C. is hitting Nancy Pelosi about, i.e. getting away with it. What can she do without help in the Senate? 1. Pass spending bills with strings attached, such as holding McConnell to his word on an up or down vote on just DACA. The excuse that Trump won't sign it is irrelevant, plus his racism and criminality should make him irrelevant on just about everything. 2. Target all 22 GOP Senators in the next election. Red States are being hit the hardest by Trump policies, and surely even those who voted for Trump because of his immorality must be getting tired of it by now.
36
Great comment.
4
As we are about to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the landing on the moon - it's clear there is only one viable solution. Figure a way to inhabit outer space.
1
Tom has captured our predicament extraordinarily precisely and concisely. Would that my fellow countrymen and co-religionists could understand it as precisely and concisely
(sigh . . .).
205
That is a tough call, for sure, Mr. Friedman. Both of these "men" are monetarily greedy, and ego-power-hungry beyond belief. Both of these guys care far more about their own personal enrichment than they do about being a true Public Servant, leading a Nation.
So ... which one is worse ?? It reminds me of the old "Certs" TV breath-mint advertisement, asking "is it a breath mint, or a candy mint ?" And, the answer (in both cases) is;
"Stop, you're both right !" Both of these "World Leaders" are the lowest form of street corner bullies, and creeps. 50 Billion annual dollars in Arms and Munitions is "not enough" for Netanyahu. Locking up migrant children in beyond squalid jail conditions is just fine for Trump.
It would be beyond wonderful to see both of these cruel and greedy bozos to be voted out, and kicked out, of Office. And, the sooner, the better.
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@W.Wolfe
And not only indicted, but convicted of their crimes.
10
@W.Wolfe
Trump is clearly worse. I say this, because I think we forget a large part of why Trump is so bad. If you equate him with Bibi you miss a lot.
Bibi has his problems. But, I would argue, many of his problems have emerged from being in power too long and losing touch.
He does stoke xenophobia in a way that is problematic, and his handling of Palestinian issues is not great. Furthermore, he is corrupt. Otherwise, however, he is a pretty good and deft politician who has strengthened Israel's standing on the world stage, improved Israel's economy, and improved its national security.
Furthermore, Netanyahu's Palestinian policies, while not great, are in line with the past--they are not a shocking turn backwards. Many of Trump's policies represent a large step backwards in progress.
You say they are both only interested in enriching themselves. Netanyahu has a fortune of 14 mil--far less than Joe Biden. If he is trying to enrich himself, he isn't great at it.
Trump meanwhile has sexually assaulted many women, regularly attacks the press, trusts Putin over US intelligence, lies beyond belief, launches attacks on the judiciary, has run many scams (see Trump U), lies about his wealth, denies climate change, threatens to lock-up political opponents, courts Neo-Nazis, attacks war heroes (including dead ones), started birtherism, wants to build a wall between the US and Mexico (Israel's wall at least was built in response to bombings), etc.
Trump is worse.
6
@W.Wolfe With possible jail sentences as the Amen.
5