Yuval Rabin: My father was killed at a moment like this

[John Miller 761]

Donald Trump’s utterings about “Second Amendment people” taking matters into their own hands to block a President Hillary Clinton’s Supreme Court picks were a new level of ugliness in an ugly campaign season.

In Israel, incitement such as this led to the murder of my father, Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, 20 years ago. Because he dared pursue peaceful relations with our neighbors, my father was contemptuously called a traitor, and posters of him dressed as a Nazi war criminal were waved at right-wing rallies.

After his murder, politicians were quick to condemn the assassin as a lone wolf. They conveniently ignored their role in creating a poisoned environment that led someone to believe that taking a life was a justifiable political act.

More than one commentator in Israel and in the U.S. has pointed to the parallels between Israel in the 1990s and the U.S. today.

Trump has called Clinton “the devil”, claimed that the election might be “rigged”, denigrated entire religions, and questioned the impartiality of the justice system.

Intentional or not, the Republican presidential nominee is removing confidence in the democratic form of governance. If an election is seen as illegitimate, if those who supported a candidate are viewed as somehow lesser “Americans,” then it becomes acceptable — and even appropriate — to work outside the political system.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2016/08/14/trump-second-amendment-yitzhak-rabin-assassination-hillary-clinton-yuval-rabin/88723956/