Over the last week, Bibi Netanyahu, Israel’s Prime Minister, brought his country to the brink of state-sponsored racism. Donald Trump, the President of the United states, has again revealed how disoriented from reality and hateful he is. Let’s begin with the latter.

In his acceptance speech for winning an Academy Award for writing the “Best Adapted Screenplay” for the film Blackklansman, Spike Lee noted that the 2020 election is “soon.” Thus, he went on, we should “all mobilize” and be “on the right side of history” (and) “choose love over hate, let’s do the right thing.” Trump responded in a tweet: “Be nice if Spike Lee could read his notes, or better yet, not have to use notes at all, when doing his racist hit on your President, who has done more for African-Americans…than almost any other President.”

My initial reaction is, “Get the men in the white coats. Trump flipped out.” Almost always, when the latter delivers a speech, or otherwise publicly comments, he is obviously reading a teleprompter or his notes. He cannot speak coherently without an assist. When these aids are absent, he repeats himself and/or rambles incoherently. For him to argue that  Spike Lee is a racist, rather than look in the mirror, is to further confirm his divorce from the real world. For our safety, he needs to be removed from office.

In terms of the Israeli Prime Minister, I won’t try to explain the intricacies of the Israeli political system except to note that it has a Parliamentary structure and individuals are elected by party affiliation, based on proportional representation. To be able to form a government, a party needs to secure, on its own or by making deals through a coalition,  at least 61 seats in the 120 member Knesset (Parliament). For Israel’s upcoming elections in April, Netanyahu has maneuvered the system so as to assure he reaches at least that number by permitting an avowedly racist party to join his candidate list.

Bibi has no principles, that is obvious. But, for an Israeli Prime Minister to allow a neo-Nazi type party to become part of its government, is intolerable. Even AIPAC, the American lobby for Israel, an organization that  almost never criticizes internal Israeli politics, has denounced this political ploy.

Is it any wonder that Trump and Bibi are close friends and political allies? Hopefully, the Israeli people will, for their own security, join Americans in trying to contain the dangerous, racist actions of their respective leaders.