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March 17, 2024
Key Takeaways:
- Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer delivered a pro-Israel speech for the ages. Republicans have made Israel a partisan issue by blocking and opposing aid to Israel and opposing a two-state solution. It's not surprising that they are attacking Schumer for telling the truth.
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The Biden administration continues to focus on gaining the release of hostages held by Hamas since October 7. Hamas murdered 1,200, wounded 3,300, and took 240 hostage during a day of brutal savagery and unspeakable, unquestionable sexual violence; 134 hostages, half of whom are probably dead, remain in Gaza 163 days later. Israel has agreed to a framework for a six-week ceasefire to get hostages out and humanitarian aid in. Hamas is dragging its feet.
- We don't know if, when, or to what extent Israel will invade Rafah, so we cannot predict the administration's response. President Biden does not oppose operations in Rafah; his concern is that Israel first develop credible plans to protect civilians.
- Iran cannot use sanctions waivers to fund terrorism. Controls are in place to ensure the money can only be used for humanitarian purposes, and the money is not fungible.
- I need your ideas for my next Top Ten Signs You're at a Republican Seder.
Read to the end for corrections, what you may have missed last week, fun stuff, and our Zoom event this Tuesday with Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA).
You're welcome to read for free, but if you want to chip in to help defray the cost of the newsletter, click here to pay by credit card or PayPal. Just fill in the amount of your choice. If you see something that says "Save your info and create a PayPal account," click the button to the right and it will go away. You don't need a PayPal account. Or you can Venmo @Steven-Sheffey (last four phone digits are 9479). You can send a check too.
Hi Steve,
An ancient political adage says that world leaders fall into two categories: Those whom Benjamin Netanyahu has offended and those whom Benjamin Netanyahu will offend. The former category continues to grow.
Netanyahu all but endorsed Republican Mitt Romney for president in 2012. Netanyahu accepted a Republican invitation to address Congress issued behind the White House's back in 2015, in breach of protocol, giving a foreign leader the chance to oppose a U.S. president's major foreign policy initiative before the U.S. Congress. Last week, Netanyahu agreed to speak at a GOP political retreat organized to help Senate Republicans defeat Democrats in November.
Republicans have made Israel a partisan issue by opposing a two-state solution and blocking and opposing aid to Israel. Now Republicans are falsely claiming that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in history, somehow meddled in Israeli internal affairs by outlining a path to peace and security for Israel on the floor not of the Knesset but the U.S. Senate.
I love Israel. I love the Israeli people. I am a Zionist.
Because I love Israel and the people of Israel, I am concerned about Benjamin Netanyahu and the right-wing extremists in his coalition who refuse to hold another election. They, not Israel or Israelis, determine the election calendar. They are using their power to pursue non-democratic ends--not unlike a certain political party here in the United States.
I've argued for years that we must distinguish pro-Netanyahu from pro-Israel. That's what Schumer did on Thursday.
I'm going to focus on some key points from Schumer's speech, but watch it or read it and decide for yourself before relying on anyone's summary or analysis, including mine.
Schumer identified four major obstacles standing in the way of two states that must be removed if we are ever to achieve peace in Israel, Gaza, and the West Bank: Hamas, and the Palestinians "who support and tolerate their evil ways"; radical right-wing Israelis in government and society; Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas; and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Schumer noted that "these obstacles are not the same in their culpability for the present state of affairs. But arguing over which is the worst stymies our ability to achieve peace."
Even though I distinguish in my mind between the government of Israel and the State of Israel, in my heart, I cannot help but identify Netanyahu with Israel, for the same reason that I identify nearly all countries with their leaders. The difference is that I love Israel. I don't know how I would have reacted if Schumer had called on Netanyahu to step down or demanded that Israelis replace him. But that's not what Schumer said.
Schumer made clear that "the United States cannot dictate the outcome of an election, nor should we try. That is for the Israeli public to decide."
Schumer said, "as a democracy, Israel has the right to choose its own leaders, and we should let the chips fall where they may. But the important thing is that Israelis are given a choice. There needs to be a fresh debate about the future of Israel after October 7. In my opinion, that is best accomplished by holding an election."
Schumer is among the most pro-Israel senators, perhaps the most pro-Israel senator, on either side of the aisle. Those who care about Israel's future should listen to him instead of blaming him for not blindly following the Likud line. He said, "my last name is Schumer, which derives from the Hebrew word Shomer, or 'guardian.' Of course, my first responsibility is to America and New York. But as the first Jewish Majority Leader of the United States Senate, and the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in America ever, I also feel very keenly my responsibility as Shomer Yisroel — a guardian of the People of Israel."
He described the horrors of October 7, the trauma Israelis feel, and why one state, from the river to the sea, will not work--whether democratic or not, whether ruled by Israel or the Palestinians. He decried news agencies for giving Hamas a pass and for failing to report that Hamas uses civilians as human shields and said that Hamas does "not care one iota about the Palestinians for whom they claim to nobly fight."
He made the case for a Jewish State of Israel and the danger to Israel of not moving toward a two-state solution, noting that "even while we carry the anguish in our hearts, we have to think ahead to the future, the medium and long term, and how we can ensure that something like October 7 never happens again. We cannot let anger or trauma determine our actions and cloud our judgment."
Netanyahu's coalition is taking Israel down a dangerous path. We have a right and a duty to speak out. According to former IDF Deputy Chief of Staff Yair Golan, Schumer's speech reflected the feelings of the Israeli public.
We need to let the vast majority of Israelis who are fed up with Netanyahu and want elections know that they are not alone and that Netanyahu's policies are putting Israel on a collision course with its closest ally. Silence is complicity. Schumer had the right and the duty to speak out. So do we.
I stand with Israelis and I applaud Schumer for standing up for what is right. As JDCA CEO Halie Soifer wrote, "by expressing the views of the 'silent majority' of American Jews on the Senate floor, Schumer modeled the courage that will be required by Israeli, Palestinian and American leaders to bring about a lasting peace."
The Biden administration continues to focus on the hostages taken by Hamas on October 7. Hamas murdered 1,200, wounded 3,300, and took 240 hostage during a day of brutal savagery and unspeakable, unquestionable sexual violence; 134 hostages, half of whom are probably dead, remain in Gaza 163 days later.
Upon learning that Hamas murdered American Itay Chen during its brutal terrorist assault on October 7, President Biden reaffirmed his "pledge to all the families of those still held hostage: we are with you. We will never stop working to bring your loved ones home."
On March 12, UN Ambassador Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the UN Security Council that "every single Member State must call on Hamas to release every single hostage" and agree to the ceasefire deal that Israel has agreed to: "The fighting could and should stop today if Hamas would just release the first hostage and stop using people as pawns."
What if Israel invades Rafah? We don't know if, when, or how Israel will invade Rafah. We don't know, should Israel invade Rafah, to what extent it will have plans for preventing a humanitarian crisis or whether, to the extent the invasion is limited in scope, it will produce or exacerbate a humanitarian crisis. Thus, we cannot predict how President Biden or Congress will react.
Sometimes the best and most honest answer is, "let's see what happens." The White House has no red lines that would trigger restrictions on arms to Israel; the red line is that Israel should not conduct operations without a credible plan to protect civilians. None of this is new.
Hundreds of former senior officials in Israel’s security agencies and foreign service wrote that the humanitarian situation in Gaza undermines Israel's security. We don't know if Netanyahu will factor these concerns into his decision-making.
We do know that President Biden requested an unprecedented $14.3 billion emergency aid request for Israel on October 20 (still not fulfilled thanks to GOP obstruction). Biden became the first president to visit Israel during wartime and Biden approved more than 100 separate military sales to Israel since October 7. Dayenu, but Biden also vetoed three UN Security Council resolutions and blocked one Security Statement that were biased against Israel, all of which would have easily gone through but for Biden.
No president has entered office with a longer and stronger record on Israel than Joe Biden, who has worked with every Prime Minister of Israel since and including Golda Meir. Given the uncertainty about what happens next, we could not ask for a better friend in the Oval Office. It's time to accept that the problem is not in Washington. The problem, as uncomfortable as we might be in saying so, is in Jerusalem, and his name is Benjamin Netanyahu.
How about some crowdsourcing? Two years ago, I created the Top Ten Signs You're At a Republican Seder (click and scroll down). It went viral, thanks to someone in Florida (it's always Florida) who pushed it out on Facebook and to Michael Cohen (yes, that Michael Cohen, Trump's former lawyer/fixer), who pushed it out on Twitter.
Neither Florida man nor Cohen attributed the Top Ten to me, although Cohen denied stealing it and eventually acknowledged my comedic genius. But it went viral, and that's what matters. I tried to duplicate its success last year with a new Top Ten, but that one never took off, maybe because it was too similar in tone and substance to the first one. I saw the first one on Facebook and Twitter more than the second one last year.
Purim is around the corner, so Pesach cannot be far behind. I've been asked if I'm going to do it again this year. I will if you'll help. Send me your suggestions for inclusion in a new Top Ten Signs You're At a Republican Seder. Include your name (at least first, ideally first and last) as you'd like to see it in print, along with your city and state--or tell me you prefer anonymity. I'll pick my ten favorites and share a new list before Pesach.
Corrections. I'm entitled to my own opinions but not to my own facts, so I appreciate it when readers bring errors to my attention. In last week's newsletter, I misspelled John Maynard Keynes's last name and I typed two words twice in a row ("we should we should").
In Case You Missed It:
- The State Department imposed additional sanctions to promote peace, security, and stability in the West Bank. AIPAC opposes sanctions against violent settlers, deeming them "unnecessary." Pro-Likud and pro-extremism is not pro-Israel.
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Jennifer Rubin writes, "America is divided not by some free-floating condition of 'polarization' but by one party going off the deep end." The sooner we understand that the GOP, not polarization (which implies that both poles have equal merit) is the problem, the sooner we can solve our problems. Peter Wehner writes that "the Republican Party has grown more radical, unhinged and cultlike every year since Mr. Trump took control of it."
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Michelle Goldberg explains where antisemitism and anti-Zionism collide--and where they don't. If you think that anti-Zionism is always antisemitism, then you need to re-think your definitions of Zionism and antisemitism.
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Julie Zebrak explains why Democrats should use the word "abortion."
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The Problem with Defining Antisemitism is worth reading because it is a good profile of Ken Stern, the lead drafter of the IHRA definition of antisemitism, and his concerns about why it should not be codified. The article is also a good example of the meandering, pretentious New Yorker style of writing that I detest: "Stern is seventy-one, with a scruffy white beard and a taste for casual attire. On the day I visited, he was wearing house slippers and nursing a slight cold." Who cares? Get to the point.
In Case You Forgot: Republicans love to renew debunked falsehoods, hoping we've forgotten that they were debunked. If you've heard that the administration is renewing Iran sanctions waivers, remember that Iran cannot use this money to fund terrorism and that the money is not fungible.
But the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran is real. Iran is not racing to a nuclear bomb but we cannot ignore the risk. On March 15, Barbara Slavin described how to prevent a nuclear crisis with Iran.
Tweets of the Week. Derek, Matt Duss, and Fania Oz-Salzberger.
Facebook Post of the Week. Rabbi Jack Moline on the immorality of blocking traffic for a cause.
Serious Video Clip of the Week. Former Shin Bet Director Ami Ayalon (less than a minute).
Fun Video Clip of the Week. Kids these days. Apparently, some of our younger friends thought Usher at the Super Bowl was amazing because he could sing without lip-syncing and dance. They'd never seen anything like it. Check out James Brown. And speaking of energy, here's Chuck Schumer doing what he does best.
Upcoming Event. Please join Dana Gordon, Steve Sheffey, Jill Zipin, and
Democratic Jewish Outreach PA PAC for a Zoom fundraiser for Senator Bob Casey (D-PA) on Tuesday, March 19, 2024, at 6:30 PM ET. RSVP here to get the Zoom link. This will be a close race. Holding this seat is key to holding the Democratic Senate majority.
For those new to this newsletter. This is the newsletter even Republicans have to read and the original home of the viral and beloved 2022 and 2023 Top Ten Signs You're At a Republican Seder. If someone forwarded this to you, why not subscribe and get it in your inbox every Sunday? Just click here--it's free.
I periodically update my posts on why Democrats are better than Republicans on Israel and antisemitism and on the IHRA definition of antisemitism. My definition of "pro-Israel" is here (it's a work in progress, as am I).
I hope you enjoyed today's newsletter. Donations are welcome (this takes time to write and costs money to send). If you'd like to chip in, click here and fill in the amount of your choice. If you see something that says "Save your info and create a PayPal account," click the button to the right and it will go away. You don't need a PayPal account. Or you can Venmo @Steven-Sheffey (last four phone digits are 9479). You can send a check too.
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