Timothy L. O'Brien, Columnist

It’s Israel’s Turn to Confront Trumpism

Netanyahu’s opponents are pushing back in a way that might work for Israel, but broader efforts are needed to confront authoritarianism worldwide.

Looks like a Trump rally.

Photographer: Menahem Kahana/AFP via Getty Images

Donald Trump flirted with dictators throughout his presidency, claimed fraud deprived him of re-election, and incited the Jan. 6 insurrection that offered hard-liners everywhere a tutorial on useful demonstrations of force. Now the strongmen are flirting back.

“We are witnessing the greatest election fraud in the history of the country, in my opinion in the history of any democracy,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said this week, echoing Trump as he smeared an unusual political coalition formed to unseat him. Though he is also mired in a corruption trial, Netanyahu said he won’t recognize a new government. Vitriol among his supporters has prompted Israel’s domestic security service to warn of escalating, possibly lethal, violence.