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Trump and Netanyahu Steer Toward an Ugly World, Together
By Thomas L. Friedman
Opinion Columnist
There was a time when a meeting between the president of the United States and the prime minister of Israel brought only pride to both Israeli and American Jews, who saw two democratic leaders working together. Well, I know that I am not alone when I say that pride is not the emotion that welled up in me on seeing the chummy picture of Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu meeting in the Oval Office on Monday. It was disgust and depression.
Each is a wannabe autocrat, each is working to undermine the rule of law and so-called elites in his respective country, each is seeking to crush what he calls a “deep state” of government professionals. Each is steering his nation away from its once universal aspiration to be a “light unto the nations” toward a narrow, brutish might-equals-right ethnonationalism that is ready to mainstream ethnic cleansing. Each treats his political opposition not as legitimate but as enemies within, and each has filled his cabinet with incompetent hacks, deliberately chosen for loyalty to him instead of the laws of their lands.
Each is driving his country away from its democratic traditional allies. Each asserts territorial expansion as a divine right — “From the Gulf of America to Greenland” and “From the West Bank to Gaza.”
*snip*
Netanyahu — like Trump and thanks to Trump — feels a sense of impunity, a sense that nothing can take him down. That kind of thinking filters down and is what leads to incidents like the one last month in which Israeli forces killed 15 paramedics and rescue workers in southern Gaza, an incident that “the chain of command below simply lied” about, a senior Israel Defense Forces officer told Haaretz.
Fortunately, Israeli civil society has shown a lot of fight — much more than America’s so far — and no wonder. Because while Trump can denounce America’s elites to the cheers of his base, Israelis know their country cannot survive without its technical, scientific and military elites. Which is why this month, 18 former Israeli security chiefs — of the I.D.F., Mossad, Shin Bet, military intelligence and police — declared that Netanyahu was unfit to serve as prime minister, because his “conduct poses a clear and immediate danger to Israel’s security and future as a Jewish democratic state.”
To all who aspire to prevent a post-America, post-Israel world, I have only one message: This is the fight of our lives. I am all in — and I am not tired. How about you?
Opinion Columnist
There was a time when a meeting between the president of the United States and the prime minister of Israel brought only pride to both Israeli and American Jews, who saw two democratic leaders working together. Well, I know that I am not alone when I say that pride is not the emotion that welled up in me on seeing the chummy picture of Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu meeting in the Oval Office on Monday. It was disgust and depression.
Each is a wannabe autocrat, each is working to undermine the rule of law and so-called elites in his respective country, each is seeking to crush what he calls a “deep state” of government professionals. Each is steering his nation away from its once universal aspiration to be a “light unto the nations” toward a narrow, brutish might-equals-right ethnonationalism that is ready to mainstream ethnic cleansing. Each treats his political opposition not as legitimate but as enemies within, and each has filled his cabinet with incompetent hacks, deliberately chosen for loyalty to him instead of the laws of their lands.
Each is driving his country away from its democratic traditional allies. Each asserts territorial expansion as a divine right — “From the Gulf of America to Greenland” and “From the West Bank to Gaza.”
*snip*
Netanyahu — like Trump and thanks to Trump — feels a sense of impunity, a sense that nothing can take him down. That kind of thinking filters down and is what leads to incidents like the one last month in which Israeli forces killed 15 paramedics and rescue workers in southern Gaza, an incident that “the chain of command below simply lied” about, a senior Israel Defense Forces officer told Haaretz.
Fortunately, Israeli civil society has shown a lot of fight — much more than America’s so far — and no wonder. Because while Trump can denounce America’s elites to the cheers of his base, Israelis know their country cannot survive without its technical, scientific and military elites. Which is why this month, 18 former Israeli security chiefs — of the I.D.F., Mossad, Shin Bet, military intelligence and police — declared that Netanyahu was unfit to serve as prime minister, because his “conduct poses a clear and immediate danger to Israel’s security and future as a Jewish democratic state.”
To all who aspire to prevent a post-America, post-Israel world, I have only one message: This is the fight of our lives. I am all in — and I am not tired. How about you?
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/08/opinion/trump-netanyahu-united-states-israel-autocracy.html?unlocked_article_code=1.-E4.COFa.1et2bmjRovEJ&smid=url-share
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