Yitzhak Rabin’s son warns Trump: Same kind of ‘incitement’ led to murder of my father

The son of slain Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin says Donald Trump’s “ugly” campaign rhetoric is threatening American democracy and creating an atmosphere similar to the one in Israel leading up to his father’s assassination.

In a USA Today op-ed on Sunday, Yuval Rabin writes that the recent call by Trump to “Second Amendment people” is the same kind of “incitement” that “led to the murder” of his father in 1995.

“More than one commentator in Israel and the US has pointed to the parallels between Israel in the 1990s and the US today,” Rabin writes, citing articles in Haaretz and The New York Times.

He adds: “Trump has called Clinton, ‘the devil,’ claimed that the election might be ‘rigged,’ denigrated 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.”

Trump’s comments last week — suggesting that gun-rights supporters could take action against Hillary Clinton if she “wants to abolish” the Second Amendment, or the right to bear arms — also prompted Connecticut Gov. Daniel Malloy to make the Rabin assassination comparison.

— JTA