TEL AVIV, ISRAEL -- Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer's stunning floor comments Thursday have been poorly received here in Israel, in addition to withering reviews in the United States, as well. I've read Schumer's comments calling for new Israeli elections, and for the Netanyahu government to be replaced, for various Israeli officials and citizens. The reactions have been slack-jawed astonishment, followed by substantive responses ranging from measured push-back to genuinely indignant criticism. As Rebecca mentioned yesterday, Schumer's upper chamber Republican counterpart, Mitch McConnell, reacted strikingly negatively to Schumer's remarks:
The primary ‘obstacles to peace’ in Israel’s region are genocidal terrorists like Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad who slaughter innocent people and corrupt leaders of the Palestinian Authority who have repeatedly rejected peace deals from multiple Israeli governments. And foreign observers who cannot keep these clear distinctions straight ought to refrain from weighing in. It is grotesque and hypocritical for Americans who hyperventilate about foreign interference in our own democracy to call for the removal of the democratically elected leader of Israel. This is unprecedented. We should not treat fellow democracies this way at all. Things that upset left-wing activists are not a prime minister’s policies – they are Israel’s policies. Make no mistake – the Democratic Party doesn’t have an anti-Bibi problem. It has an anti-Israel problem. Israel is not a colony of America whose leaders serve at the pleasure of the party in power in Washington. Only Israel’s citizens should have a say in who runs their government. This is the very definition of democracy and sovereignty. Either we respect their decisions, or we disrespect their democracy.”
As McConnell pointed out, Israel is being led by a war cabinet unity government right now. Israel is in a fight for its continued existence, against a brutal enemy who started the war by slaughtering 1,200 of Israel's people. It would be extraordinarily inappropriate for someone in Schumer's position to give a 'regime change' speech like this about any democratically-elected government of an allied nation. It's shocking to see him go there on Israel, which formed its current governing coalition early last year, by the way. After recent elections. And the wartime policies of the Netanyahu government -- regardless of what one thinks of the Prime Minister himself -- are widely popular inside Israel. Many observers have suggested that a Netanyahu replacement might actually take a more aggressive approach to the war than the current leader. Netanyahu's top rival, who's currently serving in the war cabinet, publicly rejected Schumer's comments -- as did a host of Israeli leaders and pro-Israel groups. A widely and deservedly-panned flop. "Unacceptable:"
Gantz on @SenSchumer speech: Chuck Schumer is a friend of Israel, who helps her a lot even these days, but he made a mistake in his statement. Israel is a strong democracy, and only its citizens will determine its leadership and it's future. Any external intervention is…
— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) March 14, 2024
Notable quotable from top Netanyahu rival: https://t.co/REQlA80jiq
— Josh Kraushaar (@JoshKraushaar) March 14, 2024
When you've lost the very centrist American Jewish Committee, you know Schumer's speech didn't hit the (pro-Israel) mark: https://t.co/zMp6NHUz7f
— Josh Kraushaar (@JoshKraushaar) March 14, 2024
And nothing short of anti-Israel fanaticism and pro-Hamas propaganda will satisfy the radical elements of the Democratic base these broadsides were meant to appease. Schumer is Jewish and generally pro-Israel. This loud, growing fringe is going to hate him anyway. The New York Senator is delusional if he thinks some diplomatically-disastrous 'tough talk' against Netanyahu will buy him any goodwill with these agitators, or will make the other parts of his speech more palatable to them. His seemingly unprecedented choice to pander in this particular manner, entirely in service of a bad domestic politics miscalculation, is beyond reckless and cynical. There's also a fundamental problem with calling for a two-state solution anytime soon, beyond sending the obviously dreadful message of rewarding Hamas for their savagery:
Step 1: Hamas surrenders/is destroyed.
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) March 14, 2024
Step 2: Find non-terrorists who can actually negotiate *and deliver* a credible peace.
Step 3: These Palestinian leaders acknowledge Israel’s right to exist.
Step 4 & beyond: Everything else.
I do not believe we are close to steps 1-3. https://t.co/hOrss9poob
Independent of any of that, it's hubristic and highly improper for Schumer to have said what he did, and his damage control isn't helping:
The U.S. cannot dictate the outcome of an election.
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) March 14, 2024
That is for the Israeli public to decide.
As a democracy, Israel has the right to choose its own leaders.
But the important thing is that Israelis are given a choice.
There needs to be a fresh debate about the future.
Schumer inflamed the Israelis, including some prominent Netanyahu opponents. He angered many Israel supporters in the United States. He did nothing to placate the Hamas crowd. And he made this total mess while undermining precedent, norms, and institutions in the process -- and engaging in the very activity ("election interference!") that his tribe has been strenuously decrying for years. When they wring their hands about these high-minded values and subjects, rest assured that they are full of it, as Schumer has once again demonstrated. Then again, what was to be expected of the man who threatened Supreme Court justices by name, on the Court steps? I'll leave you with yet more appalling pandering by Democrats. The message here is unmistakable, and quite disturbing:
Put this in perspective. Since Friday:
— Richard Goldberg (@rich_goldberg) March 14, 2024
Pro-Hamas antisemitic rioters in Chicago intimidated the House of Blues to cancel a Jewish singer’s sold-out show. The venue cited security concerns.
Loyola University told Jewish students they could no longer allow a survivor of the Nova… https://t.co/JGPwjJheR2
Put this in perspective. Since Friday:Pro-Hamas antisemitic rioters in Chicago intimidated the House of Blues to cancel a Jewish singer’s sold-out show. The venue cited security concerns. Loyola University told Jewish students they could no longer allow a survivor of the Nova music festival massacre to speak on campus. The university cited security concerns. Jews were attacked while trying to enter a theatre to watch footage of the Nova music festival massacre. Jews are not even allowed to mourn the massacres without being attacked in the city of Chicago. The mayor says nothing. The president says nothing. But the White House is sending staff to meet with the organizers of these violent riots and assaults instead of defending the Jews they are trying to drive underground. This is a complete outrage....
Jews are being bullied and harrassed in the 2024 DNC host city, and top Democrats are too busy begging Hamas supporters and sympathizers to vote for Team Blue to do or say much of anything about it. The White House has apparently focusing on convening another Dearborn-style meeting with Islamists, which resulted in this disgusting invitation. This time around, they reportedly invited CAIR, whose executive director celebrated the October 7th slaughter in a public speech. The resulting severing of ties lasted a few months, it seems. There's a grievance-laden, identity-politics consitutency to appeal to, after all. Oh, and the terrorism sympathizers and cheerleaders have been blowing off Team Biden's desperate overtures anyway:
CAIR’s executive director publicly praised the October 7th massacre https://t.co/ebSM3jhJdn
— Guy Benson (@guypbenson) March 14, 2024
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