Trump has degraded American democracy. Now he’s aiming for Israel

President Donald Trump on Nov. 13. Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images

Contributing Columnist
Sruli Fruchter
November 13, 2025

President Donald Trump is trying to persuade Israeli President Isaac Herzog to pardon Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In doing so, he is asking Israel to become an illiberal state, rather than a democratic one — the same change he is working to bring to his own country.

In writing to Herzog earlier this week, Trump — himself a convicted felon on 34 counts — used the same conspiratorial rhetoric he has peddled in the United States to describe Netanyahu’s charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust. The case is a “political, unjustified prosecution,” he wrote. During a recent 60 Minutes interview, Trump said he would “be involved” in Netanyahu’s trial to “help him out.”

It would be a problem for any foreign government to seek to interfere in Israel’s domestic judicial system. But Trump’s overstep threatens to weaken Israel’s already fragile democracy by impugning the legitimacy of its legal system and insisting that the country’s prime minister is beyond accountability.

Herzog essentially rejected Trump’s request, but his response was tepid, stating that pardons must only be made “in accordance with established procedures.” He made no denunciation of foreign interference in Israel’s domestic affairs, no affirmation of the integrity of Israel’s judicial system and certainly no repudiation of Netanyahu’s relentless efforts to avoid his day in court, including by  repeatedly seeking to have his hearings delayed.

Herzog should have. There are broad swaths of Israeli society that yearn to see Netanyahu brought to justice, not just on corruption charges, but also for the disastrous choices that helped prime the ground for the Hamas attack of Oct. 7, 2023. But there are others, primarily among the far-right parties aligned with Netanyahu, who will seize upon any chance to help him extend his hold on power.

Already, the far-right Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir has urged Herzog to follow through on Trump’s request.

“The fabricated and disgraceful indictments against Prime Minister Netanyahu have long since turned into an indictment against the prosecution, whose disgrace and crimes are exposed in the trial every day,” Ben-Gvir tweeted. “A pardon in this case is the right and urgent thing to do. President Herzog, listen to President Trump!”

Dissuading Ben-Gvir and his ilk, and taking the firm stance that the process of justice must play out on its own terms, is essential. Because the fissures in Israel’s governmental system run far deeper than many realize — which works in Netanyahu’s favor.

The charges against Netanyahu have been methodically investigated by prosecutors over many years. He is accused of accepting some $300,000 in gifts to influence the country’s tax law, and discussing a quid pro quo for favorable coverage with both the news site Walla! and the Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot.

Despite the evidence that supports these assertions, Netanyahu, mirroring Trump’s rhetoric, insists the prosecution is corrupt, and evidence that a liberal “deep state” controls the country — a move from the authoritarians’ playbook, designed to erode public trust in independent institutions.

Unfortunately, it’s working.

In 2025, Israeli researchers Asif Efrat and Omer Yair found that about one-third of Israelis believe Netanyahu’s unsubstantiated claims in a shadow rule over the country. Those numbers soar to roughly 50% among voters of Netanyahu’s current coalition.

Efrat and Yair see that data as a warning sign. Support for such conspiracies can “weaken public trust in the legal system, the bureaucracy, and the security forces,” they write. “It would allow the government to thwart the actions of these bodies and even take control of them.”

This is what Anne Applebaum, the award-winning journalist and historian, warns about in her book, Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism.

Applebaum describes how authoritarians take “major steps toward the destruction of independent institutions.” They harness more and more power by repeating conspiracy theories that embolden their desire to circumvent the rules.

Two years ago, during the country’s judicial overhaul uproar, Applebaum saw reason to fear Israel backsliding into “an undemocratic Israel, a de facto autocracy.” Netanyahu and his government responded at the time “in the way that all autocratic populists react to any challenge” — with intransigence, accusations of disloyalty and strategic circumvention.

In Trump’s view, pardoning the prime minister would ensure “his attention” is not “unnecessarily diverted.” Then, Netanyahu could “unite Israel” once and for all.

Even ignoring the fact that Netanyahu has never been a unifying figure, such a position overlooks the price Israeli democracy will pay by allowing its leader to flagrantly violate and disrespect its rules.

Netanyahu is not a figure who respects law, democracy, or checks and balances. Trump’s pushing for a pardon will only embolden his Israeli counterpart’s worst instincts.

Right now, as Israel recovers from a devastating two-year war and seeks to regain its international footing while paving a future for Gaza, the country cannot afford to spiral into a deeper anti-democratic crisis.

The people of Israel must stand against Trump and Netanyahu’s plot and reject any efforts to undermine the country’s liberal democracy.

Netanyahu has long tested the elasticity of Israeli democracy. Trump’s single-page letter could be the catalyst to push it past its breaking point.