Benjamin Netanyahu in a message to Joe Biden
The speech of the leader of the Democratic majority in the US Senate, Senator Chuck Schumer, in which he expressed no confidence in Benjamin Netanyahu and called for new elections in Israel, is nothing less than an earthquake in Israel-US relations.
Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer gives a thumbs-up after approving a US debt ceiling increase, June 2, 2023/Reuters
why is it important:
It is hard to exaggerate how much Senator Schumer is not only the most senior Jewish elected official in the USA and one of the oldest politicians in Congress, he also knows Netanyahu and has been friends with him for decades.
Schumer is also considered the most right-wing marker within the Democratic Party in regards to support for Israel and his words create political space for many other senators and members of Congress to express themselves publicly in a similar manner.
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reminder
To understand how significant Schumer's words are, you have to go back to 2015, when Schumer was one of the only ones in the Democratic Party who did not condemn Netanyahu for his defiant speech in Congress against the nuclear deal with Iran.
Schumer was also one of the only Democratic senators to vote against the deal a few months later to protect then-President Barack Obama.
In addition, throughout last year when Netanyahu promoted the legal revolution, Schumer was one of the only Democratic senators who did not publicly criticize the Prime Minister's actions.
Therefore, Schumer is the last Democratic senator who could be expected to speak out in an unprecedented manner against Netanyahu and his government and call from the Senate plenum for new elections in Israel.
Chuck Schumer meets with Benny Gantz in Washington, March 5, 2024/Reuters
between the lines:
One of the reasons for the differences between Schumer of 2015 and Schumer of 2024 is the change in the political atmosphere in the US and especially within the Democratic Party and within the Jewish community in America, most of which defines itself as liberal.
A senior Democratic senator who asked to remain anonymous said that Schumer voted against the nuclear deal because he knew that if he voted in favor he would not be able to enter a large part of synagogues in New York.
"Now he knows that if he hadn't gone against Netanyahu he wouldn't have been able to enter a large part of the synagogues in New York," said the same senator.
Behind the Scenes
Schumer informed the White House already on Wednesday that he intended to deliver a harsh speech on the subject of Israel and the war in Gaza, but did not give Biden's advisers a copy of the speech and did not ask for approval.
Schumer was not encouraged in the White House, but neither was he arrested.
Senior White House officials admitted that even they were surprised by the strength of his criticism of Netanyahu and his government.
A senior official in the White House said that in the last two days, Biden's advisers actually tried to calm down the public confrontation with Netanyahu a little, partly because they believed that this confrontation only serves the Israeli Prime Minister politically.
Senate Democratic Majority Leader Charles Schumer delivers a State of the Nation address, March 8, 2024/Reuters
The big picture
Schumer's speech showed that just five months after the October 7 attack, the war in Gaza had become just a symptom of a wider phenomenon of a growing rift between the Democratic Party in the US and the far-right government Netanyahu put together 15 months ago.
Schumer described Netanyahu and the extreme right-wing ministers in the Israeli government, Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gabir, as major obstacles to achieving peace the day after the war - along with Hamas and Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.
A senior Democratic senator said this indictment of Schumer perfectly represents what most Jews in America think.
the other side:
This was the second time in a week that a US official has spoken publicly about Netanyahu's political weakness. Just a few days ago it was the US Director of National Intelligence in his annual intelligence assessment report.
But Netanyahu's reaction to Schumer's speech was even more harsh.
"Israel is not a banana republic, but an independent and proud democracy," said a message befitting a proud democracy published on behalf of the Likud party and not on behalf of the Prime Minister's Office.
Netanyahu accused in the Likud announcement that Schumer is undermining the Israeli government during wartime.
He added that his policy is supported by "a huge majority of the people", and this is a day after three polls showed that if the elections were held today, he would suffer a severe defeat and be removed from the position of Prime Minister.
Netanyahu's reaction was expected.
The one whose reaction was more surprising is the chairman of the state camp Benny Gantz who claimed that Schumer was wrong in his words. There is not a word that Chuck Schumer said in his speech that contradicts what Gantz thinks. Perhaps, as many of his opponents claim, Gantz does not really want elections.
What next
Contrary to Netanyahu's approach and Benny Gantz's cowardly tweet, Shumer did not tell the Israeli public who to elect and even emphasized that only the Israeli public will elect its leaders.
His speech also reflected the mindset of the majority of the public in Israel since the beginning of the war, between 70 and 80 percent of which claim in the vast majority of polls conducted since the beginning of the war that elections should be held as soon as possible.
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United States
Chuck Schumer
Benjamin Netanyahu