Surveying the sometimes-apocalyptic rhetoric coming from some Israeli circles about Benjamin Netanyahu’s sixth term as prime minister—especially in response to proposed judicial reforms—Gil Troy offers some words of caution. His warning also applies to those Americans who repeat the same rhetoric:

The anti-Netanyahu assault that began with his November 1 victory has followed the anti-Trump resistance playbook to a T. It began with hysterical cries that a democratically achieved election result threatened democracy. It built, during the transition, with blistering condemnations of the government-in-formation, even before it implemented any policies. It drew clear red lines, which sought to use the sanction of professional guilds and associations, along with social affiliations among the professional class, to create the appearance of unanimity among those who believe their opinions matter more than others. . . . And now, it continues with the mass demonstrations boosted by periodic petitions of 100 self-selected “experts” here and 500 there—economists, business leaders, national security analysts—all predicting catastrophe. The parallels are eerie.

Israelis’ tough neighborhood makes the idea of supercharging an internal us-versus-them debate with cries about the “death of democracy,” “coup d’état,” and imminent “dictatorship”—all while mobilizing the bureaucratic class against the elected government—particularly dangerous. Americans may be able to afford this kind of cosplay politics, where ordinary lawyers and college professors suddenly imagine themselves to be members of the French Resistance or the Underground Railroad, or Luke Skywalker from Star Wars. That’s because America is a very rich, continent-size country, bordered by Mexico to the south and Canada to the north. Israel’s neighbors are different.

Instead, Troy believes it’s worth paying attention to the strengths of Israeli democracy, which, he writes, “is doing just about as well as can be expected.”

Governments often act like speedboats, especially in a volatile parliamentary system like Israel’s. They can veer quickly, as Israel’s just did, from a left-to-right coalition including Arab partners to a right-wing, religiously dominated government. But democratic culture is more like an ocean liner: stable, stately, slow to change, and impressively resilient.

Rather than pointing their fingers, Americans and Israelis would do better to learn from one another. Israelis could benefit from a better appreciation of America’s formal structures of government, while Americans would do well to mimic the bottom-up elements of Israeli democracy, including the trust, solidarity, intimacy, and community that stabilize Israel’s polity.

Two weeks ago, a terrorist—most likely working for Hizballah—managed to cross into Israel from Lebanon and plant an explosive device near Megiddo that wounded a civilian. The attack, according to Matthew Levitt, is a sign of the Iran-backed militia’s increasing willingness to challenge the tacit understanding it has had with the IDF for over a decade. Such renewed aggression can also be found in the rhetoric of the group’s leaders:

In the lead-up to the 2006 war, [Hizballah’s] Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah famously miscalculated how Israel would respond to the cross-border abduction of its soldiers. According to Israeli analysts, however, he now believes he can predict the enemy’s behavior more accurately, leading him to sharpen his rhetoric and approve a series of increasingly aggressive actions over the past three years.

Nasrallah’s willingness to risk conflict with Israel was partly driven by domestic economic and political pressures. . . . Yet he also seemed to believe that Israel was unlikely to respond in a serious way to his threats given Hizballah’s enlarged precision-missile arsenal and air-defense systems.

In addition to the bombing, this month has seen increased reports of cross-border harassment against Israelis, such as aiming laser beams at drivers and homes, setting off loud explosions on the Lebanese frontier, and pouring sewage toward Israeli towns. Hizballah has also disrupted Israeli efforts to reinforce the security barrier in several spots along the Blue Line, [which serves as the de-facto border between Lebanon and the Jewish state].

This creeping aggressiveness—coupled with Nasrallah’s sense of having deterred Israel and weakened its military posture—indicate that Hizballah will continue trying to move the goalposts.