Schumer’s Ill-Conceived Speech 1
Regarding “Biden Praises Schumer Remarks Naming Netanyahu as ‘Obstacle to Peace’” (March 16, www.jewishpress.com):
Senator Schumer (who is probably serving his final term in office) may think he accomplished something with his disparaging remarks last week regarding Prime Minister Netanyahu. Instead, Mr. Schumer should heed the lesson learned by President George H. W. Bush following his negative comments regarding AIPAC lobbyists in the Fall of 1991. Earlier that year, after the conclusion of the first Gulf War, Mr. Bush’s approval ratings hovered at or near 90 percent. In November 1992, Bush surprisingly lost reelection to Bill Clinton.
Biden’s election strategists may think it’s politically advantageous to criticize Netanyahu or Israel through surrogates such as Schumer. History shows otherwise. Presently, there’s still time for the Biden campaign to reverse course. Otherwise, Biden’s attempted reelection will probably experience the same outcome as that of President George H. W. Bush.
Boruch Schwartz
Brooklyn, N.Y.
Schumer’s Ill-Conceived Speech 2
The following message was posted on Sen. Charles Schumer’s contact form:
Whence the chutzpah for your calling for Israeli elections and accompanying unhinged comments concerning its current government? You and the [Biden] administration should be calling instead for regime change in Iran, not Israel! As for any internationally imposed Palestinian state now, that is an absolutely insane fantasy. Israel is supposed to accept such a gratuitous award to the Palestinians, after Hamas’s unspeakable 10/7 atrocities and the P.A.’s failure not only to condemn it but to include the monsters that carried it out in their despicable “pay to slay” obscenity?
Not on Netanyahu’s watch. He is not an obstacle to peace, but you and the administration have been doing all they can to be an obstacle to Israel’s winning this war! It must decisively erase the existential threat emanating from Gaza, including Rafah.
And stop calling yourself “Shomer Israel.”
Richard D. Wilkins
Syracuse. N.Y.
Schumer’s Ill-Conceived Speech 3
Senator Chuck Schumer in his recent diatribe against Prime Minister Netanyahu and the current Israeli government said, “As the first Jewish majority leader of the United States Senate and as the highest ranking Jewish elected official in America, ever, I also feel very keenly my responsibility as a Shomer Yisrael, a guardian of the people of Israel.” That is because, as he never fails to mention when talking about Israel, his last name Schumer, comes from the Hebrew word shomer or guardian.
The term Shomer Yisrael comes from the verse in Tehillim 121:4 (“Hinei lo yanum v’lo yishan Shomer Yisrael – Behold the Guardian of Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps.”) It is also used in Tachanun prayers which make up part of our daily Shacharis and Mincha services. It refers to Hashem, not to any human being. To misappropriate this term for oneself is the height of hubris.
Schumer is no Shomer Yisrael. Schumer chose the wrong verse for himself. He should have chosen the following verse in Tachanun: Shomer goy echad, which could be translated as the guardian of one non-Jew, namely President Joe Biden. (Obviously that is a play on words as the real meaning is that Hashem guards the one nation of Israel.) As a career partisan Democratic hack, Schumer is trying to get Biden elected in the fall by pandering to Muslim voters in the critical voting states of Michigan and Minnesota. Schumer is as much a Shomer Yisrael as are Shomrei Ha’Ir or as they are better known in Aramaic, Neturei Karta (Guardians of the City).
Hashem, guard us from such friends. With Your help, we can take care of our enemies!
May Hashem, the One and Only Shomer Yisrael, protect our soldiers and brethren in Eretz Yisrael.
Mordechai Bulua
Montreal, Canada
Schumer’s Ill-Conceived Speech 4
An open letter to Senator Schumer:
Please resign, Mr. Schumer. Your level of brazen chutzpah knows no boundaries. You have maligned Netanyahu and interfered in the government of Israel. Disgraceful! Your apparent lack of knowledge of what Israel faces is utterly shameful. You are an intelligent person without any sense of fairness to Israel. We are left to conclude that you have made a grave error in judgment because you are consumed with politics.
We now know that politics is your life and not doing what’s right. I’m ashamed of your disgusting actions. Do the right thing and admit you did wrong. Better yet, resign.
Morton Ettelson
Via Email
Teaneck Disturbance: Omen for the Future?
As a resident of New Jersey, it was very disconcerting to hear about the awful events in Teaneck last Sunday in which a large band of pro-Palestinian hooligans rampaged through the town, disrupting an otherwise simple peaceful event. But what is especially unnerving is the omen for the future. The protesters specifically targeted visibly Jews in a Jewish community. This means that any overly visible Jewish community is a potential target for such “demonstrators” no matter what the occasion.
Since many of us in New York and New Jersey live in concentrated Jewish enclaves, we are all potential targets. Williamsburg, now Teaneck, have been victims, and we in Highland Park, New Jersey, were targeted in 2019, starting with the reading of a library book aimed at little children, called “P is for Palestine.” A small group of activists fought the battle against it virtually alone, with little or no support from any Jewish organizations, local or national. Our only help was from armed local police and state troopers who were there to guard against violence. We believe that because of our resistance, we have not been a target since, although with no guarantees for the future.
There are several points to my writing this letter. They all center around the idea that we have to be better organized to ward off trouble.
First, in local incidents the locals have to take matters into their own hands. Local and national Jewish organizations have their own agendas, missions and timetables, and may react slowly, if at all, to sudden street disturbances. Sadly, in many of our communities, institutions had to resort to various security arrangements to try to ensure the safety of their members. However, these may not have taken the next necessary step of being coordinated on a community-wide basis rather than as an unorganized group of individual teams.
Second, local groups must have close relations with police and public officials to ensure that the authorities are well versed in potential problems, and that they institute drills and exercises simulating violent disturbances and put preventive measures in place to avert violence before it occurs rather than cleaning up the damage after it is done.
Third, Jewish individuals and organizations have to learn to be proactive in protesting and demonstrating against their tormentors and not just complain about the injustice of it all. The Washington protest in November was a major event with a significant impact, and all Jews were patting themselves on the back for such a job well done. And it was. Unfortunately, there has been no significant follow-up, and even that rally is mostly forgotten in the rush of events since then. Contrast this with the immediate response of antisemitic, anti-Israel, pro-Palestinians who come out in force to protest at the drop of a hat. That is what we have to learn to do.
Im ein ani li, mi li? (“If I am not for myself, who will be for me?”)
Max Wisotsky
Highland Park, N.J.
