Schumer’s tough sell to Jewish leaders
The discontent from top Jewish communal organizations?over Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s (D-NY) Israel speech last week hasn’t subsided. After Schumer spoke with the leadership of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations on Tuesday afternoon, the group?put out a tough statement criticizing his Senate speech?that, it argued, ended up empowering Israel’s enemies.
“The pro-Israel community and our membership continue?to have deep reservations about Senator Schumer’s speech on the Senate floor last week regarding impediments to peace between Israel and the Palestinians,” the group’s CEO, William Daroff , and its chair, Harriet Schleifer, said in a statement.
“We believe that at a time when Israel is fighting an existential war, on the embers of the 1200 innocents massacred on October 7th, it is not a time for public criticisms that serve only to empower the detractors of Israel, and which foster greater divisiveness, when unity is so desperately needed.”
One specific concern that the statement raised about Schumer’s speech?was his warning that the United States could use “leverage” against Israel during the Jewish state’s time of need.
A source close to the Conference of Presidents told JI?that the group intended to put out the statement last Friday but at Schumer’s request waited until after Tuesday’s call. The tenor of the meeting “emphasized the need to speak out,” the source said.
A source familiar with the meeting between Schumer and the Conference of Presidents?told JI that Schumer discussed why he decided to give the speech and elaborated on his views. He told the group that “you can still love Israel and feel strongly about Israel, and totally disagree with Bibi Netanyahu and the policies of Israel” and that “this is part of my core, my soul, my neshama.”
Amy Spitalnick , the CEO of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs , who joined the call, said she’s been concerned by the “lack of nuance in the reaction” to Schumer’s speech, including from the conference, “and the fact that there are so many who are so quick to dismiss his points, and to effectively now argue that someone like Sen. Schumer, who has been, without a doubt, the stalwart of pro-Israel voices in Congress for decades, is now somehow outside of the pro-Israel tent, because he disagrees with the Israeli government.”
Meanwhile, the White House and the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office have both acknowledged?that a delegation from Jerusalem will travel to Washington next week to discuss next steps in the war against Hamas, but they seem to have different ideas of the meeting’s baseline,?Jewish Insider?senior political correspondent Lahav Harkov reports.
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President Joe Biden?posted?on X following his call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday that he asked the prime minister “to send a team to Washington to?discuss ways?to target Hamas without a major ground operation in Rafah.”
Netanyahu, however, told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee?on Tuesday that he “clarified to the president in our conversation, in the clearest way, that we are determined to complete the elimination of [Hamas’s remaining] brigades in Rafah and there is no way to do it other than entering by land.”
Netanyahu acknowledged the differences between his view and the president’s?saying that “we have a dispute with the Americans about the need to enter Rafah. Not about the need to eliminate Hamas — the need to enter Rafah…We are determined to do it.”
The Prime Minister’s Office announced on Tuesday evening?that the delegation to Washington will be made up of Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi and a representative of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, the Defense Ministry unit handling humanitarian aid. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant will also fly to Washington next week, at the invitation of Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin.
Secretary of State Tony Blinken will be in Israel for several hours?on Friday, according to?Israel’s Channel 13, in addition to the announced stops in Egypt and Saudi Arabia on his sixth Middle East trip since the Hamas attack on Oct. 7. On the agenda are Israel’s plan to invade Rafah, a hostage deal and humanitarian aid to Gaza. An Israeli diplomatic source said the visit has not yet been finalized.
In campaign news, Trump-endorsed businessman Bernie Moreno comfortably won?the Ohio Senate GOP primary, and will face Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-OH) in a bellwether Senate race in November. It’s another sign of the dominance of MAGA forces within a changed Republican Party.
In Illinois, Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL) easily won the Democratic primary, fending off two primary challengers. AIPAC ’s super PAC?cheered the defeat?of anti-Israel progressive Kina Collins, who the group spent money against. Collins finished in third place, only winning 18% of the vote.