John Podhoretz
Commentary Magazine, Mar. 14, 2024
“Schumer was being a good soldier too. But a bad Jew.”
In an extraordinary speech this morning—and by extraordinary I don’t mean it was good but rather that it was astoundingly abnormal—the majority leader of the U.S. Senate called for the collapse of the legitimately elected government of a sovereign ally.
This is something new. This is something that has never happened before.
Chuck Schumer stood on the floor of the U.S. Senate and declared that Israel needs a new government under a prime minister other than Benjamin Netanyahu. Schumer is calling for this despite the fact that, were there to be such a change in government right now, it wouldn’t change policy at the most important level. Israel’s populace and its politicians are in alignment. Its government is a unity government in which the prime minister’s most formidable rival is sitting alongside the majority coalition. The current Israeli government, the one Schumer says he wants to see replaced, unquestionably represents a consensus view of the Israeli electorate on the most important issues, and that view is shared by something like 75 percent of Israeli voters.
Moreover, when it comes to the war in Gaza, Netanyahu is not the decision-maker; he is one of three. Bibi, opposition leader Benny Gantz, and defense minister Yoav Gallant make up a “war cabinet” troika, and all policy moves are the result of a majority vote among them.
No matter. Chuck Schumer simply barreled on. He likened the coalition to Hamas, a terrorist group under the sway of the theocratic mullocracy in Iran. They are both, he said, “obstacles to peace.” I will forbear from calling Schumer names for the moral equivalence he is drawing here, which trust me, is demanding a level of restraint Schumer himself should have shown by canceling the delivery of this speech.
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