In the midst of one of the State of Israel’s most serious military challenges ever and the greatest outbreak of overt antisemitism in the history of the Jewish presence in the United States, two of the most senior Jewish federal elected officials have attacked the Prime Minister of Israel. United States Senate Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer and Rep. Jerry Nadler, the longest serving Jewish member of the House of Representatives, slammed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over his conduct of the war in Gaza and for his opposition to a two-state solution.
In March, Schumer said the Israeli leader had “lost his way,” was an “obstacle to peace, and should be voted out of office in a special election to be held as soon as practicable.
Needless to say, Schumer created a firestorm and he was roundly criticized for abandoning ship during a crisis and for his unprecedented intrusion into the political affairs of another country, especially with that country being our closest ally in the world. Schumer was also roundly criticized for giving cover to other Senators who now saw an opportunity to criticize Israel’s war against Hamas with relative impunity. His efforts to differentiate Israel itself from its prime minister had few takers.
Last week Rep. Nadler described the Prime Minister as the worst Jewish leader in 2,100 years, that is since King Hyrcanus invited the Romans into Israel to help him in his fight with a rival Jewish political faction, but who eventually turned on him and subjugated the Jews.
This is part of what Nadler had to say:
I think the Biden administration has handled things as well as they can be handled. Hamas is obviously terrible. But I think Netanyahu is doing everything he can to sabotage the peace talks, even at the cost of the hostages. He has every motive for keeping the war going as long as possible.
Because when the war is over, number one, there’ll be a commission of inquiry. Number two, there’ll be an election, and he’s polling at about 20%. And number three, he’ll have to face the felony charges that are outstanding against him… Netanyahu does not want a two-state solution and this is something else he’s going to have to answer for once this war is over to the Israeli public.
Unfortunately, as was the case with Schumer, there is little to suggest that people are distinguishing between Netanyahu and Israel in terms of his condemnations. We think everyone will agree that anything that feed into the Biden criticisms of Israel’s war effort is a very risky enterprise.
Interestingly, Nadler’s remarks came within day of Schumer’s announcement that he would be joining with House Speaker Mike Johnson in an invitation to Mr. Netanyahu to address a joint session of Congress.
Hopefully the gesture will have an impact. We suggest it behooves Mr. Nadler to be heard on this.
