Haaretz's Chemi Shalev bemoaned the state of the GOP on CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS on Sunday, and compared Donald Trump's remarks on "Second Amendment people" to the political climate in Israel in 1995 before the murder of major political figure: "It reminded me of the months preceding our late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's assassination." Shalev also connected the "lock her up" chants at the Republican National Convention to this climate, and later added that if "somebody...tried to hurt or harm Hillary Clinton tomorrow, I don't think anybody would be surprised." [video below]
Host Fareed Zakaria turned to the U.S. editor for the left-wing Israeli newspaper near the end of a panel discussion segment: "Chemi...I saw something that you said. When Donald Trump made his comment about the Second Amendment people, maybe, being able to do something about Hillary Clinton once she was in office appointing judges, it reminded you of something; and I want you to tell us what it reminded you of." Shalev immediately replied with his "months preceding our late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's assassination," but first pointed to his anecdote about the GOP convention:
CHEMI SHALEV, U.S. EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT, ISRAEL'S HAARETZ: ...I was reminded of this atmosphere before Donald Trump made his comments, and it first occurred to me at the GOP convention in Cleveland...where I sat and listened, and was quite dismayed by the constant cries of 'lock her up, lock her up' — and the kind of criminal indictments that were being issued from the podium...both parts of...this convention were main elements in the months that led up to Rabin's assassination.
It is possible that Zakaria first read about Shalev's reaction to the RNC in New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman's piece from August 10, 2016:
...During the Republican convention, with its repeated chants about Clinton of "lock her up," a U.S.-based columnist for Israel's Haaretz newspaper, Chemi Shalev, wrote: "Like the extreme right in Israel, many Republicans conveniently ignore the fact that words can kill. There are enough people with a tendency for violence that cannot distinguish between political stagecraft and practical exhortations to rescue the country by any available means. If anyone has doubts, they could use a short session with Yigal Amir, Yitzhak Rabin's assassin, who was inspired by the rabid rhetoric hurled at the Israeli prime minister in the wake of the Oslo accords."
In a column from earlier in July 2016, the Haaretz correspondent also likened Mr. and Mrs. Trump to current and former communist dictators: "In a style reminiscent of Kim Jong-un and the late and great Nicolai and Elena Ceausescu – or of some other famously pompous power couple from the Middle East, if you insist – the Trumps are portrayed as the epitome of achievement and the envy of the world. "
The transcript of the relevant portion of the panel discussion segment from CNN's Fareed Zakaria GPS on August 14, 2016:
FAREED ZAKARIA: Chemi, let me ask you something slightly different — because I saw something that you said. When Donald Trump made his comment about the Second Amendment people, maybe, being able to do something about Hillary Clinton once she was in office appointing judges, it — it reminded you of something; and I want you to tell us what it reminded you of.
CHEMI SHALEV, U.S. EDITOR AND CORRESPONDENT, ISRAEL'S HAARETZ: Well, it reminded me of the months preceding our late Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's assassination. But in fact, I was reminded of this atmosphere before Donald Trump made his comments, and it first occurred to me at the GOP convention in Cleveland, where I — you know, where I sat and listened, and was quite dismayed by the constant cries of 'lock her up, lock her up' — and the kind of criminal indictments that were being issued from the podium. And both of the — both parts of the — this convention were main elements in the months that led up to Rabin's assassination.
When — when Donald Trump made his comment about the Second Amendment people, that sort of clinched the — clinched the — the association. And it's not farfetched to assume or to think that there may be one person or two people in America who are putting all of this together and thinking to themselves that true patriots have to do something. And — and it's clear that that is the case, because say somebody — you know, God forbid, tried to hurt or harm Hillary Clinton tomorrow, I don't think anybody would be surprised. Everybody would connect it to the atmosphere that exists today in the Trump camp; and everybody would say, yeah, we should have seen it coming. So, I think after Trump made his remarks, everybody is in that position where if it does happen, they would have been forewarned.
