March 19, 2024 (EIRNS)—What U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer said in a 40-plus minute address on March 14 sent shock waves across the world. Schumer, the Senate Majority Leader and the highest level Jewish elected official in the U.S., seemed to be turning against Israel’s policy in Gaza, which has been condemned by many as ethnic cleansing and genocide against the Palestinians.
At first glance, his call for Israel to hold new elections to replace Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu seemed to be a decisive shift, perhaps a foreboding that President Biden, who has been clashing semi-publicly with Netanyahu, might be using Schumer to prepare for a change in policy. Biden’s continuing commitment to providing arms, money and political cover to Israel is increasingly unpopular, especially among key Democratic Party constituencies, including youth and Muslims, many of whom are voting “undecided” and “uncommitted” in party primaries to express their anger at U.S. complicity in the brutal collective slaughter in Gaza.
In his speech, Schumer said he believes the Prime Minister “has lost his way by allowing his political survival to take precedence over the best interests of Israel…. He has been too willing to tolerate the civilian toll in Gaza, which is pushing support for Israel worldwide to historic lows. Israel cannot survive if it becomes a pariah….” To prevent its isolation, he added, “I believe a new election is the only way to allow for a healthy and open decision-making process about the future of Israel, at a time when so many Israelis have lost their confidence in the vision and direction of their government.”
He went further, identifying cabinet members, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich as “extremists,” while stating that he personally favors a two-state solution, the same as President Biden.
Yet, while calling for an end to Netanyahu’s leadership, he threw in a caveat: a new election should take place “once the war starts to wind down,” meaning that though he called Bibi an “obstacle to peace,” he did not advocate an end to the murderous assault of innocent Palestinian civilians underway. In other words, he stood with the people of Israel, which polls show want Bibi out, but only after Netanyahu finishes his mission in the war, which would ensure there could be no Palestinian state.
Netanyahu responded with macho bluster, as could be expected. He said it’s “wrong to try to replace the elected leaders … of a staunch American ally … especially during a time of war,” which actually is in line with what Schumer said about waiting until the war winds down. He reiterated that opposition will not prevent him from fulfilling his mission: “No amount of international pressure will stop us from realizing all the goals of the war: eliminating Hamas, releasing all our hostages and ensuring that Gaza will no longer pose a threat against Israel. We must not give in to these pressures, and we will not give in to them.”
What Schumer did not do was to advocate the one effective strategy which would force Israel to end its assault on Palestinians, by calling for an immediate end to all aid to Israel—military, financial and political—until there was an agreement to a complete ceasefire, an end to Israeli occupation to all land internationally recognized as a Palestinian state, and an economic package benefitting all peoples and nations in Southwest Asia.
