Chuck Schumer Lectures and Hectors the Israelis on ‘What They Must Do’

New York Senator Chuck Schumer gave a speech in the Senate a few days ago. It was about the need for Israel to change its government, in order to achieve that holy grail of the “two-state solution,” that is the way — the only conceivable way, in Schumer’s view — to bring about a lasting “peace” between Arabs and Israelis.

Schumer proceeded to lay into Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he accused of unnecessarily prolonging the war in Gaza. He called on Israel to quickly hold elections so that Netanyahu, whom Schumer detests — though he praises his “bravery” as a young soldier — could be replaced. He insisted that the Israelis, just like enlightened Americans such as himself, should understand that only a “two-state solution” will bring peace to the region. His arrogance and his ignorance were on full display, quite a sight to behold. More on his hectoring of an ally, in the middle of that ally’s war to survive, can be found here: “Schumer: Netanyahu a major obstacle for peace, Israel must hold elections,” by Hannah Sarisohn, Jerusalem Post, March 14, 2024:

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called for an election in Israel to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the US’ most vocal opposition of the prime minister since October 7 during remarks Thursday from the Senate floor.

Schumer is treating Israel, a sovereign state, a formidable economic and military power, and perhaps our closest ally, as a banana republic. He has the gall to call for Israel to at once hold elections — in the middle of a war — and even more gall to tell the Israelis how they should vote: against Benjamin Netanyahu. Judging by all the politicians, including many who are political opponents of Netanyahu, such as Naftali Bennett, who rejected Schumer’s meddling, saying “Israel is not a banana republic,” his “advice” was not welcome. Although Netanyahu has gone down in popularity, his conduct of the war, and the need for the war, are supported by a large majority of Israelis.

Schumer attacked Netanyahu, linking his reign over the Israeli government as one of four main obstacles to achieving peace, the others being Hamas and their supporters, Israel’s radical right-wing government, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

So here, according to Chuck Schumer, are the “four main obstacles to achieving peace” between Israel and the Arabs. Here are the first two:

The first of the four main obstacles to peace is the Israeli government itself. By that Schumer means mainly Benjamin Netanyahu, but also those “radical far-right” fanatics in the cabinet, Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir. But the latter two do not dictate the conduct of the war. The war cabinet consists of Netanyahu, Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant, and former Chief of Staff Benny Gantz. Netanyahu tolerates Smotrich and Ben Gvir — he needs the votes they control in the Knesset — but often ignores their views. He has not allowed them to prevent Israel from delivering food aid to the Gazans, he went ahead in November with the first ceasefire-for-hostage deal over their objections; he ignored their anger over his decision to transfer 72 Palestinian orphans from Gaza to the West Bank. Their frequent threats to resign from the government show how deep is the chasm between them and the Prime Minister. Schumer has just made Netanyahu more popular by calling for his replacement. The Israelis do not take kindly to being lectured to by foreigners, including those who only want to “save Israel from itself.”

Second, Hamas and its supporters are obstacles to “peace.” Why then, does Schumer object to what Netanyahu is now doing —trying to destroy Hamas militarily so that it can never again threaten Israel? Shouldn’t he be telling the Bidenites to support Israel to the hilt in its war aims? While Hamas may be militarily defeated, the annihilationist impulse that animates the terror group and its many admirers in the Arab and Muslim world (and, it now appears, on American campuses and in European cities) remain unchanged: the destruction of the Jewish state “from the river to the sea,” the expulsion or killing of its Jewish population, and its replacement by a twenty-third Arab state.

Or does Schumer think that Hamas and the Palestinians who say they support Hamas and the attack on October 7 are all bravado and chocolate-soldiering, but they don’t really mean to destroy Israel? Could they really expect Israel to disappear? Yes, they can and they do. Has Schumer forgotten what happened on October 7? Does he not realize that 85% of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank say they support the Hamas attack on that day? Does he not know that many in the “moderate” Palestinian Authority not only approve of what Hamas did that day, but fully agree with Hamas on what should be the Palestinians’ ultimate goal — Israel’s disappearance? Hamas and the PA disagree only on matters of tactics and timing. Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the PFLP, and other terror groups want to weaken Israel through endless terror attacks and then, once the Jewish state has been sufficiently weakened, to launch, with the military assistance of such Arab states as Iraq and Syria, and non-Arab Iran, a multi-pronged attack, from Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon.