1. Struggling Democracies
It’s hard to ignore the parallels: two nations engaged in separate yet very similar struggles surrounding the future of their democratic systems. In the United States, Donald Trump’s administration has waged war against the professional civil service, the judicial system and political rivals. And in Israel, well, pretty much the same. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has accelerated his actions in recent weeks against anyone who seems to pose any threat to his leadership, firing the head of Shin Bet, launching a process aimed at the removal of the attorney general, and advancing an overhaul meant to weaken the judicial branch and subordinate it to the executive branch.
Each leader is driven by a different motivation. Netanyahu, unpopular among Israelis and politically burdened by the October 7 attacks happening on his watch and by years of corruption-related investigations and trials, is fighting for his political survival. Trump, emboldened by an uncontested electoral victory and free of any political restraints, is seeking revenge on a system he believes was out to get him.
There’s also a big difference when it comes to the two leaders’ method of operation. Trump, with the assistance of major donor and DOGE chief Elon Musk, has chosen to “flood the zone” with an endless slew of executive orders, decrees and statements directed at reshaping a centuries-old system with the stroke of his pen. Netanyahu has always believed in a gradual approach, one that his critics call the “boiling frog” method, in which the heat in the pot increases slowly, and by the time it reaches a boiling point, the frog, or in this case the Israeli public, finds out that it’s too late to escape.
Still, both Trump and Bibi have reached a similar conclusion: In order to reach their goals, they need to weaken the system of checks and balances and take on the gatekeepers who are holding them back.
Both leaders are facing pushback: Trump from the courts that have already blocked many of his actions, and Netanyahu from the courts, too, but also from a massive popular protest movement that has taken to the streets to make him stop.
It’s too early to tell who will end up more successful. Netanyahu’s political career is teetering and there is no real long-term prospect for his survival in power. At best, the moves he is advancing could buy him some time, avert a total loss of any positive legacy and maybe even spare him from a negative verdict in his corruption trial, which is already under way. Trump, on the other hand, seems unstoppable in his quest to upend much of how America operates. True, many of his moves will be blocked by courts or simply abandoned because they’re unrealistic, but with no real political opposition in Congress or inside the executive branch, even if only half of the measures Trump proposes take effect, his goal of redesigning America will be successful.
2. Who’s Inspiring Whom?
On Wednesday, Netanyahu brought his antigovernment synergy with Trump into the open. In a post on X, which reached 2.5 million views, the Israeli prime minister wrote: “In America and in Israel, when a strong right wing leader wins an election, the leftist Deep State weaponizes the justice system to thwart the people’s will. They won’t win in either place! We stand strong together.”
In his rush to frame his actions as an echo of a similar struggle led by the American president, Netanyahu neglected to mention that he had been in power for much of the past two decades and as such has probably no room to point fingers at the elusive “deep state,” a favorite cause of right-wing conspiracy seekers who believe that the unelected government bureaucracy is trying to undermine the will of the people who voted for right-wing leaders.
The term “deep state,” which has no Hebrew translation, has never been part of the Israeli political discourse and was directly adopted from the American MAGA lingo. For Netanyahu, it is a perfect way of positioning his recent actions in a broader context. In other words, what Bibi is basically telling Israelis is that the reason he is firing gatekeepers and limiting the reach of courts has nothing to do with him worrying about his own skin but is rather part of a global problem of an alleged “deep state” trying to undermine the voters’ will. According to this rationale, if it happened to Trump, it surely could happen to Netanyahu, too.
3. DOGE and the Jewish Question
So you think the Trump/Musk assault on the federal government doesn’t have anything to do with the Jewish community’s priorities? Better think again.
Here are a few examples:
Trump’s ban on entry of all refugees into the United States, including those who’ve already been vetted and approved for resettlement, has left 700 Jews stranded in Iran, JTA reports. This may not be what one would expect from an administration that has vowed to help Jews worldwide and that has vilified Iran as a terror state, but that’s what happens with across-the-board first-day-in-office executive orders—they are not thought-out deliberate pieces of legislation but rather manifestations of general policy ideas that often disregard details and ignore exceptions.
And what about the Nonprofit Security Grant Program? You may not recognize the name, but your synagogue and federation executive directors likely do. This program, launched after September 11, 2001, provides significant grants used by synagogues and Jewish institutions to ensure their physical safety and security against threats of terrorism and antisemitism.
Now this money is gone. The Trump administration put a hold on all funding provided by FEMA, including these grants. It is a temporary freeze, but so far it isn’t clear if and when Jewish institutions will be able to apply again for grants.
Then there’s the decision to shut down the Department of Education. The Forward notes that the future of the antisemitism reporting system overseen by the department is now “unclear.” Complaints about antisemitic discrimination in education institutions are expected to move to the Department of Justice, but no one knows for sure when or how.
The Jewish community might also look at the anti-DEI drive across the Trump administration. At the Pentagon, which has been leading the way in erasing any sign of policies aimed at increasing diversity, equity and inclusion, mentions of Holocaust survivors and of female Jewish pioneers who served in the Marines were deleted as part of Secretary Pete Hegseth’s DEI purge.
4. Fighting Antisemitism Without a Special Envoy
Two months into the Trump presidency, the administration, which has prided itself in prioritizing battling antisemitism (or as it prefers to spell it, anti-Semitism), has yet to appoint a new special envoy to monitor and combat antisemitism.
The position has been vacant since the departure of Deborah Lipstadt, a world-renowned scholar who served in that role under former president Biden.
Last week, a bipartisan slate of more than 60 lawmakers sent a letter to President Trump, urging him to fill the position. “The swift nomination and confirmation of a qualified special envoy is essential to preserve and build on these significant gains,” the letter reads. Signatories of the letter, which was led by heads of the House bipartisan task force on antisemitism, noted that ever since the Office of Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism was established in 2006, all appointees received strong support from members of both parties.
For context, it is worth noting that mid-level ambassadorial positions such as this often take some time to fill when a new administration comes to town, although this delay stands out in light of Trump’s swift decisions (in his first week in office, or in some cases even before being sworn-in) to appoint other special envoys and ambassadors, including to Israel.
5. Who Is Helping ICE?
The Trump administration’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses has moved into a dramatic and fast-paced phase. After forcing Columbia University to make significant policy changes in return for reinstating $400 million in government grants, and while going after other elite schools with a similar goal, the administration is focusing on arresting and deporting individuals who were involved in the protests and encampments at schools last spring.
As of now, it seems that the Department of Homeland Security has been getting at least some support from Jewish and pro-Israel conservative groups in its quest to reach activists for deportation.
Cornell PhD student Momodou Taal was ordered last week to surrender to ICE, following a decision to revoke his student visa and initiate a deportation procedure. Betar USA, a right-wing Jewish organization, was quick to announce on X that Taal was “among those on our list of jihadis which we submitted to various government offices for deportation. We are pleased he has been ordered to surrender to @ICEgov.”
Similarly, when authorities sought to deport Georgetown University student Badar Khan Suri, it was the Middle East Forum, a Philadelphia-based hawkish think tank founded by anti-Islam activist Daniel Pipes, that claimed credit, noting that Suri’s alleged terror ties were first exposed by the group.
Top image: President Donald Trump and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (Credit: Daniel Torok / Avi Ohayon/Government Press Office of Israel (CC BY-SA 3.0)).