The demonization of dissent

In both the United States and Israel, a disturbing symmetry has emerged in the way leaders under investigation, under pressure, or due to their character, speak about their critics. In each country, supporters of Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu deploy strikingly similar strategic communications tactics: blame the demonstrators, discredit the protests, and paint those who take to the streets as enemies of the state rather than defenders of it.

In the US, Trump and his allies routinely describe those protesting threats to democracy as “radical,” “anarchists,” or members of the “deep state” who “hate America.”  In Israel, Netanyahu and his media surrogates have labelled protesters “traitors,” “leftists,” or part of a “well-funded coup.” The vocabulary may differ slightly, but the message is the same: dissent equals disloyalty.

This is no accident. It’s a deliberate strategy, one surely tested, refined, and amplified through traditional and social media echo chambers. It reframes legitimate public outrage as chaos, and casts government leaders as victims rather than as the subjects of public accountability.

Yet the truth on the ground tells a different story. In both nations, the demonstrators are not political extremists. They are ordinary citizens waving the flags of their respective countries. In Tel Aviv and throughout the nation it’s a sea of blue and white. In Washington and across the country during the recent No Kings demonstrations, it’s red, white, and blue. These are not symbols of division but of belonging. The crowds are patriotic precisely because they believe their countries are worth fighting for.

I know this firsthand. I have proudly stood for two years, every Saturday night in Israel, shoulder to shoulder with tens of thousands of others, demanding the return of the hostages. To be told that such demonstrations are somehow unpatriotic is both absurd and deeply insulting. We were out there supporting our fellow Israelis—the hostages, several of whom were soldiers, and their families. We now know that many of the hostages saw the demonstrations and drew strength from them. Families have publicly thanked us demonstrators profusely. To suggest that our commitment to them, and to the values we hold as a nation, was anything less than patriotic is to deny the very spirit of solidarity that defines Israel at its best.

The parallel to the United States is striking. There, too, those who take to the streets in defense of democratic norms are vilified as destabilizing forces rather than citizens fulfilling their civic duty. The playbook is the same: discredit the messengers to distract from the message. The recent AI video that President Trump posted of himself dropping literal shit on protesters, and the American leaders who defended this gross incident, is the most infantile example to date of attempting to marginalize tens of millions of American citizens. 

In both Israel and the United States, it is the demonstrators, not the leaders, who are carrying the flag forward. The people in the streets are not tearing their countries apart. They are holding them together.