by Mike Whitney, The Unz Review:
Why did Chuck Schumer call Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu an “obstacle to peace” and demand new elections in Israel just weeks before an IDF ground offensive in Rafah?
Hasn’t Schumer opposed a ceasefire in Gaza from the beginning? Hasn’t Schumer criticized pro-Palestinian activists and their public protests? Hasn’t Schumer been a champion of the Jewish state for more than three decades in office?
Yes, yes and yes. So, why would he suddenly do an about-face and blast Israel’s leader at the same time the IDF is conducting a major military operation in Gaza? Here’s an excerpt from Schumer’s speech:
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It is precisely out of this long-standing connection to, and concern for, the State of Israel and its people that I speak today about what I view are the most pressing existential threats to Israel’s long-term peace and prosperity.
After five months of suffering on both sides of this conflict, our thinking must turn — urgently — I believe that to achieve that lasting peace — which we so long for — Israel must make some significant course corrections…..
If Israel were to not only maintain the status quo, but go beyond that and tighten its control over Gaza and the West Bank, as some in the current Netanyahu administration have suggested — in effect creating a de facto single state — then what reasonable expectation can we have that Hamas and their allies will lay down their arms? It would mean constant war.
On top of that, Israel moving closer to a single state entirely under its control would further rupture its relationship with the rest of the world, including the United States. Support for Israel has declined worldwide in the last few months, and this trend will only get worse if the Israeli government continues to follow its current path…. Full text of Senator Chuck Schumer’s speech: ‘Israeli elections are the only way’, Times of Israel
Repeat: “Israel must make significant course corrections”?
So, Schumer is not only calling for new leadership, he’s also demanding that Israel abandon its current strategy?
That’s shocking, but can we trust what Schumer is saying? Does he really regard “the creation of a de facto single state” as an “existential threat” to Israel or is he using it as an excuse to conceal his real intentions?
Journalists at Politico—Hailey Fuchs and Elena Schneider—think Schumer is hiding something. They think his views are shaped by his politics which are preventing him from being completely honest. Here’s how they summed it up in a recent article:
[AIPAC] recognizes that Schumer has a left flank problem just like the Israel lobby has a left flank problem,” said one Democratic consultant who works with major Jewish donors, granted anonymity to discuss the issue candidly. “You stick with the guy who’s always been with you, but you also let him have the breathing room to say what he needs to say if it helps him with his left flank.”….
AIPAC is also sophisticated enough to know that its relationships with Democratic leadership depends on whether those leaders can maintain the support of voters, said one former Democratic Senate aide who has worked with AIPAC. Schumer’s relationship with AIPAC has always been “strong, resolute, frank and open,” the person added. Schumer’s Israel rebuke leaves AIPAC in a delicate position, Politico
This analysis is partly true but misses the larger point. Yes, Schumer does have to pander to a Democratic base that is sympathetic to the Palestinian cause, but there’s more to it than that. Schumer thinks that Netanyahu is dangerously off-track and that his arrogant, go-it-alone attitude is intensifying Israel’s global isolation while angering its biggest ally, the United States. As he puts it:
Israel moving closer to a single state entirely under its control would further rupture its relationship with the rest of the world, including the United States.
The idea that Israel can simply thumb its nose at the Biden administration and go charging into Rafah “guns blazing” is a grave miscalculation that is putting enormous strain on US-Israel relations and is bound to undermine Israel’s prospects for the future. That’s why Schumer decided it was time to roll out the heavy artillery and send Bibi a message he’d understand. And the message was accompanied by a blunt directive from the White House to send a senior-level delegation of “military, intelligence and policy officials to Washington to hear U.S. concerns and lay out an alternative approach that will not include a major ground invasion.”
Does that sound like “the tail wagging the dog” to you?
