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Chuck Schumer: Why aren’t You Blasting Biden Instead of Netanyahu?
Chuck Schumer has a lot of chutzpah, chastising Prime Minster Netanyahu, for multiple reasons. He thinks he has the right to tell Bibi how to run his country, how to run the Gaza war, and he is breaking the rules of how to treat an ally :
His speech is the latest in a series of high-level warnings and White House moves aimed at pressuring Israel and Netanyahu’s government to permit more humanitarian aid into Gaza and to rethink its war plans for Hamas, the U.S.-designated terror group whose bloody Oct. 7 attack on Israel sparked the war. The address also marked an unusually direct criticism of the democratically elected leader of a close ally, and sparked sharp pushback from congressional Republicans and from Israel’s ambassador to the U.S.
In the first place, Schumer is showing his ignorance of the barriers to get more aid into Gaza; he assumes the Israelis are intentionally starving the Palestinians.
Second, he thinks he has the right to judge Netanyahu’s government:
‘At this critical juncture, I believe a new election is the only way to allow for a healthy and open decision-making process about the future of Israel, at a time when so many Israelis have lost their confidence in the vision and direction of their government.’
Except that Israelis support the execution of the Gazan War.
Third, he assumes that he knows what the Israeli public wants:
In his remarks, amounting to a public call for the leader of a foreign ally to be removed from office, Schumer alleged that Netanyahu and security cabinet members Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir had lost the support of Israelis and a new election was ‘the only way’ to secure the Jewish state’s future.
This, after saying that the U.S. wasn’t trying to tell Israel who should lead the country.
I was surprised at the Mitch McConnell’s angry response to Schumer’s statements:
‘It is grotesque and hypocritical for Americans who hyperventilate about foreign interference in our own democracy to call for the removal of a democratically elected leader of Israel,’ he said. ‘This is unprecedented. We should not treat fellow democracies this way at all.’
This time, Mitch was right.
So, while Schumer believes that he’s entitled to tell Israel how to run its country and the war in Gaza, he should take a look at his own backyard. If we can agree that the safety and security of the United States are highly significant issues to the citizens of this country, what is Schumer doing to pressure Joe Biden to protect us?
Has he demanded that Biden take Executive Actions to control the border?
Has he called for more efforts to stop the gangs and cartels from controlling the southern border?
Has he told Biden to be more aggressive in his response to Iran and its proxies?
Has he demanded that Biden take more forceful action against the many incursions of China, including cyber threats, technology theft, and buying up U.S. land?
Has he stated that a plan for funding Ukraine is important to this nation?
Has he insisted that Biden rein in spending in order to curb inflation?
Has he stated that the military needs more resources and proper training?
Has he told Biden that he needs to step down, given his mental state, for the good of the country?
Maybe I missed his telling Biden to act like a President.
Published in Foreign Policy
It is difficult to abhor Schumer and his Leftist, America hating cronies more than I previously had, but they, with their daily actions, lies and policies, strongly reinforce that feeling.
Good for Mitch! Chuck Schumer, President of Jews for Self-Destruction PAC. Democrats are always for Democracy…as long as the vote goes their demented way.
I have the same reaction, but my abhorrence continues to grow…
I’m sick and tired of the leaders of this country demanding that others obey their orders, when they are doing a pathetic job of running this country. When has partisanship ever been such a disaster? Will they ever begin to realize that their main purpose is not to get re-elected but to serve the citizens?
Schumer is wrong of course about the feelings in Israel. From everything I’ve read, I conclude that Israel is united behind Bibi and the government while the war is ongoing. That will probably change after it’s over and investigations into what is obviously a massive intelligence failure get underway.
Even if Chucky were right though, you don’t make such statements while Israel is actively at war. No idea why Schumer thought this is the right time for his speech.
They really don’t need to worry about getting re-elected. They’ve got the fraud machine well-oiled. Fears of not being re-elected would cause them to turn their focus on America every two or six years. Now, they don’t even bother to worry about serving our citizens, so clearly aren’t worried about not being re-elected.
Follow the money.
In fairness, Bibi Netanyahu took a side in a US election, at the time of the negotiation of the awful Iran nuclear “deal”.
However, it is difficult to see a prominent Jew scapegoating an Israeli Prime Minister at a time of war. There is a general push to make Netanyahu- a man who has been demonised for decades- the face of the Israeli war effort, and to routinely allege that he is murdering women and children to save his political career and to keep himself out of jail. This rhetorical trick helps critics of Israel to avoid confronting the high levels of support within Israel for the military campaign.
Okay. So who would be paying him off? Hamas?
True. But he was advocating for Israel, since they could be potential victims of an Iran nuclear bomb. Clearly, he was unsuccessful.
Qatar? Qatar has its tentacles deep in Washington.
At any rate, it’s hard for me to imagine Chuck Schumer saying this kind of thing on his own, no matter how he feels about Israel. He might hate Israel as much as Iran does, but you don’t say this stuff this out loud unless you feel really safe saying it, and what creates that kind of safety?
Jonathan Tobin, via Powerline:
From that same piece:
Schumer gives aid and comfort to Hamas.
The Obama doctrine is alive an well, with one minor exception. The Obama doctrine is “Be nice to your enemies and terrible to your friends”. The only modification the democrats have allowed is for Russia because they “got Trump elected”.
Election interference.
Even a blind pig finds an acorn now and then.
I’m not surprised that Mitch thinks this. I’m surprised that he said it out loud. That comes perilously close to leadership. Is Mitch feeling okay?
I think this has backfired on Schumer, which is delightful to see. It’s yet another demonstration of the incompetence of this administration (Schumer was of course doing this at the behest of Biden, who wants to keep the pro-Hamas youth vote from deserting him). Can these idiots get anything right?!
I was pretty shocked, too. Then again, he hasn’t raised my expectations from him…
Nope.
First of all, Schumer does not speak for the United States. Here is an instantly delivered rebuttal (less than two minutes) by Speaker of the House Mike Johnson yesterday:
‘Highly Inappropriate’: Speaker Mike Johnson Condemns Schumer Over Calls For Elections In Israel (youtube.com)
Second, American and European Jews who seem to be siding with Hamas against Israel and Bibi are just confused. That’s all it is. They are against killing people. That’s what you’re really hearing. They want peace. They have always wanted peace.
I had a really good friend who was the conductor for our local youth orchestra, and he was Jewish and he lived in Manhattan. He was a truly brilliant musician and conductor. He was chronically upset with Israeli hardliners, and I’m going back twenty years now. He called me one day to say, “I’m so embarrassed. We should be only seeking peace.” I felt so sorry for him. Sometimes that just can’t be.
The tragedy of the relationship between Jews and the rest of the world is that Jews want to be part of their western civilization family of nations, cultures, and ethnicities. The psychology of their position in the family of civilized nations in the world is one of belonging. And that family is so tragically dysfunctional that the nations within it are not possible to get along with.
Israel just has to listen to them and then ignore them.
This group is anti-war, which we all are and have been since Hiroshima. That’s been the goal: to avoid nuclear war.
What this group does not understand is that if you don’t put out the little fires when they happen, they grow into big ones.
But I don’t despise them for it. I think it is simply a measure of their humanity and love for their fellow human beings, no matter how terrible they are.
In other words, there cannot be objective thought among Jewish people right now. Not really. They are walking around with a huge hole in their heart. They have been through a lot. That includes Schumer.
Schumer is right out of Man’s Search for Meaning. We all cope in different ways.
Mike Johnson responded as we all should: a simple “Forget it, don’t even think it.”
I agree with much of what you say except for the statement above. I believe the pro-Palestinian protestors are not just against killing people–they call for killing the Jews and eliminating Israel. Even some Jews feel that way.
Two very separate mindsets there.
I’m talking only about the Jews who are involved in this antiwar effort.
War is a terrible thing. It turns everything we believe upside down. Western civilization is all about meting out punishment to guilty people only. War hurts people who aren’t guilty. We hate that. We work hard to avoid it.
That’s all this is. I respect them for it. We all feel that way. They should not be in this situation. They didn’t ask for it. It’s not their fault. They are doing the best they can.
Blinken has a lot in common with Henry Kissinger during the Yom Kippur War. He is caught in the middle between very strongly opposing forces, some of whom are Jewish.
Just as Henry Kissinger was, he’s looking for peace.
He’s as unobjective as can be, but that’s completely understandable.
Bibi is doing all the right things–not easy for him. He’s going through hell.
Would the suggestion that this is all to help boost Biden’s support among the Jew-haters be:
a) too cynical?
b) not cynical enough?
c) perfectly calibrated cynicism?
I have never had much respect for Schumer. He is a vicious, narcissistic partisan weasel. But I did not expect him to bail so completely on Israel.
Funny that it never occurs to devotees of the “Middle East Peace Process” that maybe cutting off all aid and formal recognition of “Palestinian” leaders unless and until they can demonstrate some semblance of integrity and make a convincing demonstration of abandoning terrorism might have the effect of properly resetting the incentive structure.
The “two-state” solution was tried in 1947 and the Arab world rejected it. A necessary part of the “solution” is a mutual acknowledgment that both states (hence “two” states) are allowed to exist which somehow gets lost in the rush to impose a bogus deal. Otherwise, it is just the establishment of a terrorist state adjacent to Israel which does not advance peace.
Making Israel vulnerable and thus ensuring future Jewish deaths followed by IDF reprisals is not peace.
The complete defeat of Hamas and a demonstrated willingness to completely destroy attackers are more likely to have a longer-term salutary effect than dumping Netanyahu and imposing a new bogus “solution.”
d) Truthful
I Schumer’s mind, any time he is within camera range is the right time to make a speech.
It has always been dangerous to stand between Schumer and a camera.
shmuck + kapo = schumer
Of course this is correct. But to Permanent Washington, this is heresy.
Perhaps the safety of knowing that you have been asked by the White House to say it because they can’t? It seems like the whole Foreign Service & CIA wants that policy of appeasing Hamas and their domestic supporters. I don’t understand this stance. It’s far too “nuanced” for me! Schumer’s seat is safe in any event. There are no credible challengers to fear.