In Yiddish literally head of a Gentile and figuratively idiot. When the going gets tough you forget the basics. This time, regardless your opinion of Benjamin Netanyahu – pretty much the same as mine-[1] he is the elected president of a democracy and important two-way street ally. He was elected Israel’s President in a process no more tortured than our own, that elected Donald Trump (a true idiot and anti-Semite) with millions of votes fewer than his rival. I, a private citizen, can call on the people of Israel to find a mechanism to hold early elections and put in office a person I’d prefer to Bibi – but you Chuck, one of the highest and most powerful U.S. government officials cannot. Diplomacy and Foreign Relations 101. American Electoral Politics for Dummies Chapter One. And in an election year also page one.
Mitch McConnell
You gave, in extremis, Mitch McConnell, the ability to attack you and your party’s standard-bearer in a manner and with a message that resonated.
McConnell: “The Jewish State of Israel deserves an ally that acts like one. The people of Israel at home and in captivity, deserve America’s support. And Israel’s Unity government and Security Cabinet deserve the deference befitting a sovereign democratic country. The primary obstacles to peace in Israel’s region are genocidal terrorists like Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, who slaughter innocent people and corrupt leaders of the Palestinian Authority who have repeatedly rejected peace deals from multiple Israeli governments. And foreign observers who cannot keep those distinctions clear, ought to refrain from weighing in. It is grotesque and hypocritical for Americans who hyperventilate about foreign interference in our own democracy to call for the removal of a democratically elected leader of Israel. This is unprecedented. We should not treat fellow democracies this way at all . . . Israel is not a colony of America”
Chuck, your most recent pronouncement seems to be pattern and practice for you. Like your 2020 threat to Justices Gorsuch and Kavanaugh, delivered standing outside SCOTUS while a precursor case to the 2022 Dobbs decision (June Medical Services LLC v. Russo) was being argued. Back then you said:
“I want to tell you Gorsuch. I want to tell you Kavanaugh. You have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price. You won’t know what hit you if you go forward with these awful decisions. (See HL 96 Schumer says, When They Go Low We Go Lower 3/20/2020)
and forward they did go Chuck – as forward Netanyahu may well go – not merely undeterred by your threats but with extra wind in their sails. How idiotic Chuck, how Goyishe Kop. In both cases because of your elective government position, you can’t say what you said.
Samuel Alito
But of course, there were things that your position and high office entitled you to say and do. Indeed, should have compelled you to do. As when you were urged, instructed and given a blueprint for blocking the confirmation of Samuel Alito to the SCOTUS bench. Alito the very worst of that bunch, and with his brother Clarence on that bench that says something. Where was your big mouth then Chuck? When you had Alito on the ropes, his wife began to weep uncontrollably. Then you and your Democratic colleagues couldn’t stand up to Mrs. Alito’s crocodile tears. And we, including “those capable of becoming pregnant” have reaped the whirlwind of your timidity. (See HL 172 Mrs. Alito, Now is the Time For Your Tears 7/6/2023).
Chuck, perhaps like your counterpart Mitch, time to move aside and on.
[1] Though I am not with Chuck on what, how and when things need to happen in the Israel/Hamas war, my positions can be reviewed in HL 178, 179 and 180.
Right Blinken is not and knows better than to do that. Schumer has been around the pool more than a few times and should know better. The actions described in the post do not merely not advance his objective but make them harder to achieve Bibi will use Schumer’s speech in his attempt to cling to power.
Thanks Lloyd for taking the time to reply. I will reread your post with more care. Trump queued up my reaction with his crap about self-hating Jews. Chuck Schumer is not that. I took his call for Bibi’s exit to be more a part of a dialog among pro-Israeli Jews than an official act of state. Chuck is not Anthony Blinken who although also Jewish, ought not be calling for “regime change” in Israel.
Eric, boy you totally miss my point (perhaps Mea culpa and wrighta badda ) what Bibi did in that address to Congress was precisely the type of thing Schumer just did. And even more reason not to mimic a basic breach of diplomacy , international relations and treatment of a close ally. When you do that you justify and normalize the initial breach and weaken your position. Condoning Schumers threat (widely believed to be a threat or prediction of physical violence) against Gorsuch and Kavanaugh is dangerous. And as I pointed out Schumer did too little to get Democratic nominees to SCOTUS on the bench and too little to stop nominees like Alito and Kavanaugh and Gorsuch et Al.
I recall when Bibi snubbed Barack Obama and accepted the Republican invitation to address Congress. Bibi messes with our politics, Lloyd, so why should not Schumer as our highest ranked Jewish official call out the evil being perpetrated by the Netanyahu government. Netanyahu is perpetuating the horror in Gaza to forestall his day of reckoning with the Israeli people. Bibi has to go. Schumer is a mensch for saying so just as he was when he confronted the conservatives of the Supreme Court for overturning a 50 precedent for ideological reasons under the guise of constitutional textualism.