Chuck Schumer took to the Senate floor Thursday to announce that the interests of the Democratic Party and the political convenience of the Biden administration matter more than the democratic will of Israel’s voters — and maybe more than Israel itself.
He didn’t say that outright, of course: Instead, he took the previously unthinkable step of telling the people of an allied democracy they need to elect a different prime minister, ASAP.
Benjamin “Netanyahu has lost his way by allowing his political survival to take precedence over the best interests of Israel,” Schumer charged.
“He has been too willing to tolerate the civilian toll in Gaza, which is pushing support for Israel worldwide to historic lows. Israel cannot survive if it becomes a pariah.”
No: The civilian suffering in Gaza is a consequence of Hamas’ war on Israel, which has managed to make that suffering far less than in most Mideast wars.
That hasn’t stopped Hamas and its apologists from weaponizing the pain in hopes of forcing Israel to stand down.
Schumer for decades has praised himself as a “guardian” of Israel; that he’s now echoing Hamas’ line is a betrayal of epic proportions.
We hold no particular brief for Netanyahu or his political fate; we’ve always supported whatever leader Israelis choose for themselves. It’s their country, not ours.
But Bibi at present leads a coalition war government that includes his chief domestic rival, Benny Gantz, as well as Yoav Gallant, who fought a public and ugly battle with Bibi over proposed judicial reforms.
And Israeli public opinion supports by a large margin the Jewish state’s justified and humane counterattack in the wake of Hamas’ Oct. 7 atrocities: A recent poll showed some 81.5% in favor of hammering Hamas until the hostages come home.
No, the problems are with US public opinion — or, rather, opinion within the Democratic Party.
Americans as a whole still overwhelming side with Israel: In one recent poll, they side 82% with Israel (to 18% for Hamas); 70% back Israel’s ground invasion; 68% rightly say Israeli is trying to minimize casualties.
But the Democrats’ left is unhappy.
That includes the party’s growing anti-Israel wing — Arab-Americans and most Muslim voters, plus the rising number of hard lefties, a movement that turned against Israel long ago.
Sadly, the rest of the party stopped daring to face down the hard left some time in the Obama years. (That’s when Schumer mildly announced his opposition to the insane Iran nuclear deal, then stepped aside from doing anything to stop it.)
Israel is confronting an existential threat — terrorists who on Oct. 7 pulled off the worst slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust, and forthrightly promise to do it again as soon as they can, and to keep doing it until Israel is gone.
But President Biden is finding that this makes it hard to solidify his base as he heads into a tough re-election fight — though outright betraying Israel would only make his plight worse.
So our president has taken to dropping hints about how Netanyahu’s the problem, and now Schumer’s moved to cover his flank.
Cue the inestimable Mitch McConnell, who called out Schumer’s “unprecedented” move in his own Senate remarks: 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.”
“The Democratic Party doesn’t have an anti-Bibi problem. It has an anti-Israel problem.”
Spot on, and Chuck Schumer knows it. For shame, sir.