For years, Israel’s alliance with the United States was seen as based on the mutual value of democracy. The pact between Trump and Netanyahu, however, now reflects a different set of priorities- nationalism and populism. Furthermore, both leaders employ similar tactics to weaken oversight and expand their power. Examining the parallels between Israel under Netanyahu and Trump’s second term not only offers insight into the process of democratic backsliding but also provides a glimpse into its potential threats to people’s rights, freedoms, and well-being. Trump’s administration and Netanyahu’s government share a strong nationalist ideology. While J.D. Vance condemns the “silencing” of ultra-far-right parties in Europe and Elon Musk seeks to amplify their influence, such concerns are irrelevant in Israel, where these parties are already part of the ruling coalition—the most nationalist government in the country’s history. This government includes members from extreme ultranationalist parties that, until 2023, were considered outside the Israeli mainstream. Among them is National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, a far-right politician with unprecedented authority over Israel’s police force (a single national entity). Ben Gvir has been convicted seven times for offenses, including incitement to racism against Arabs and support for the banned Jewish terrorist organization Kach.

Trump’s administration and Netanyahu’s government also hold a populist view that differentiates between “the people” and “the elite,” arguing that politics should be an expression of the will of the people. Netanyahu justifies his attacks on democratic gatekeepers with the populist claim that his government, which won 48% of the vote in the 2022 election, represents “the people” and should therefore not be constrained by “unelected” institutions, such as the courts or the attorney general. These institutions are often labeled by Netanyahu and his coalition as “the elite” or the “deep state.” A recent example can be found in a social media post by Netanyahu, in which he declared: “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.” Similarly, his Justice Minister, Yariv Levin, complained about judges who “want to decide what’s reasonable and what’s not, instead of the people chosen by the nation.”This rhetoric closely mirrors statements from figures in Trump’s orbit. Elon Musk, for example, claimed, “Federal judges who repeatedly abuse their authority to obstruct the will of the people via their elected representatives should be impeached.” Likewise, Stephen Miller claimed that the president  “is the only official in the entire government that is elected by the entire nation,” and that “The whole will of democracy is imbued into the elected president”.Like in the case of Netanyahu, Trump’s 2024 vote share was under 50 percent, and his margin of victory was small by historical standards.

Accordingly, Netanyahu’s government and Trump’s administration seek to dismantle oversight mechanisms that limit their power and to attack minority groups they label as “enemies of the people.” Bills, laws and administrative actions in Israel and the United States have threatened the independence of the judiciary and the media, as well as the activities of civil society groups and NGOs, academic and artistic freedom, minority rights, and election procedures. Rather than cataloging the many anti-liberal legislative and administrative actions, I will focus on two broader and particularly troubling trends.

The first is the erosion of democratic norms. As Levitsky and Ziblatt demonstrate, democracies rely not only on formal laws but also on widely respected unwritten norms. Netanyahu’s willingness to disregard these norms and exploit legal loopholes is unprecedented in the history of Israel. One example is the rapid advancement........

© E-International