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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
(I posted this by accident on another post…)
I’m relieved to see that many of you also know that although Israelis are not wild about Bibi in general (he still hasn’t taken any responsibility for Oct. 7), they still support his execution of the war.
Biden has said similar things, but not as strongly. Maybe Schumer was his stand-in for “tough talk.”
Schumer was probably his stand-in for “talk.” ;)
Thought that might have been the case. :)
And insufficiently cynical.
Thank you for your explanation Marci, But we are not speaking about a bunch of teenagers, or even 20-year-olds here. These are grown people, mature people, and they better darn well figure out that their existence, our existence, is it stake. This is not time for “love is love“ slogans.we don’t have to, nor should we,
hate. But we need to have a steely determination to do whatever we need to do to continue to exist. Most certainly we want peace and do not want war. But there are times, and this is one, where you have to show the enemy that if they want war, they will pay a very extreme price
The insufferable former President of Ireland, Mary Robinson, was in our media today, calling on the United States to withdraw funding and arms supplies to Israel. It’s unsurprising that she and her ilk are never heard calling on Iran or Qatar to withdraw funding or arms supplies to the terrorists who started and continue this war.
This is why Israel has to put blinders on and go for broke. Achieve their interest, and not worry about world opinion, which is rarely fair. Why Christian nations preferred to side with Muslim nations, who would love to destroy them, it is hard to fathom.
Agreed.
I don’t agree with Schumer, but I think I understand why he is taking the position he is.
This is the part that I find mystifying. It becomes more and more obvious that when the Democratic party does something about a problem, the problem as they define it gets worse or, at best, remains exactly the same. I’m not talking about crime or illegal immigration, neither of which they appear to believe are actually problems; I’m talking “racism;” After decades of Democratic agitation, Democrat programs, Democrat dominance in blue cities with large minority populations, we are soberly informed that racism is so dreadful that it is really a public health crisis.
Back in the 90s, Clinton managed to deliver (or at least, not impede) real improvements in the lives of Americans, particularly when it came to the issue of crime. Was that so hard?
EDIT: Forgot to say that they have been diddling around in the Israel-Palestine thing for as long as I’ve been alive…and the situation remains the same as it ever was. Is that a bug or a feature?
And Supreme Court interference. Chuck you, Schumer (as Rush used to say) . . .
Thanks.
If I were cynical, I’d answer: Possibly because both Christian nations and Muslim nations hate Israel more than they hate each other.
If I were cynical 🙄
< sarcasm off>
<cynicism always on>
The Democratic party and the Left has a long history of embracing unworkable solutions for problems.