Zev Chafets, Columnist

Charlottesville's Racists Are Rattling Israeli Politics

Trump's stammering criticism of anti-Semites puts Netanyahu in a bind.

August 23, 2017 at 10:00 AM UTC

Zev Chafets is a journalist and author of 14 books. He was a senior aide to Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and the founding managing editor of the Jerusalem Report Magazine.

Still a fan?
Photographer: Lior Mizrahi/Getty Images

Provide news feedback or report an error

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

Donald Trump’s epic stammer in the aftermath of the deadly neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, has raised concerns everywhere about his commitment to stamping out hateful ideologies. In few places has it been as controversial as Israel.

The Israeli media have been brutal in reporting Trump’s attempt to divide blame between the fascists and those who protested them. So have Israeli opposition leaders. “When it comes to racism, anti-Semitism and Nazism, there aren’t two equal sides,” said Tsippi Livni, a leader of the center-left Zionist Union bloc. “There’s good and there’s bad. Period!”