Chuck Schumer’s cowardly courage
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer opened his Senate speech last week with his well-known self-proclamation: “My last name is Schumer, which derives from the Hebrew word shomer, or ‘guardian.’ I feel very keenly my responsibility as a shomer Yisroel — a guardian of the People of Israel.”
After the senator’s shameful diatribe last week — intervening in Israeli politics by insisting the Netanyahu government fall and new elections be held — many supporters of Israel felt he had failed the “shomer” test. He “Chuck[ed]” being the “shomer.”
This is not to say that Schumer does not care about Israel. He does. In the first half of his talk, he condemned the Hamas massacre of Oct. 7, and spoke of Israel’s right to defend itself. But then he went on, declaring Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu had lost his way, and should be replaced.
This is Schumer’s M.O. When voting with Israel he looks to the right and left to make sure it’s the politically safe decision to make. His courage is often punctuated with cowardice.
This characteristic was on display in 2015 when he voted against President Obama’s Iran nuclear deal. Even as an on the record naysayer, Schumer did far too little to lobby against the bill’s passing. As Politico wrote at the time, “Schumer didn’t try to get his colleagues to change their minds, even on the question of whether a filibuster of a disapproval resolution was appropriate for such a weighty matter.” And of course, years later, he did an about face, becoming a strong proponent of reviving the deeply flawed agreement.
As a rabbi-activist for decades, I have seen up close how Schumer is first and foremost interested in his personal political well-being.
During the second Intifada, thousands gathered to raise a voice as many scores of Israeli citizens, including Americans, were murdered by Palestinian terrorists. The organizers of the rally, an interdenominational group of rabbis decided that politicians, and for that matter, Israeli representatives, would not speak.
Our outrage was so great, we wanted a rally where the people speak to the politicians. The political figures present understood our decision — with one exception. Sen. Chuck Schumer. He was incensed. For weeks after he called my office, seeking to express his outrage that he was not given the pulpit.
Almost a year later, a few days after the Park Hotel in Netanya was attacked by Palestinian terrorists on the first night of Passover, we again gathered in the thousands, packing Dag Hammarskjold Plaza just across from the United Nations. The rally was, this time, open to all politicians. All graciously waited their turn to speak — except Schumer. When arriving, he demanded that he not only be the next speaker, but that I hurry up the person speaking, as he was “talking too long.” “I’m the senior senator,” he bellowed, “I insist on speaking ... now.”
As the holiday of Purim is soon to be celebrated by Jews around the world, Schumer, who is the highest ranking Jewish elected official in our country’s history, must be reminded of the courage of Queen Esther, two millennia ago who was not fearful to intervene on behalf of the Jews. She did not escape her responsibilities as a Jew. Her intervention saved her people from destruction. Assuming risk for her statements and actions, she did not cave in. Schumer did.
How dare he preach to Israel as my grandchildren join hundreds of thousands of Israelis putting their lives on the line, fighting a just war for its very existence while doing all it can to protect innocent Palestinians.
How dare he unforgivably equate, as he did in the latter part of his Senate speech, Hamas and Netanyahu as equal obstacles to peace.
How dare he use, indeed, abuse his Jewishness as a selling point to berate Israel, undermining its right to choose its government without intervention — intervention Americans bitterly condemn in our own elections.
For Israelis, this is a time not only of studying history, but of living history. Whatever happens today will be recorded for posterity. For now, Schumer is politically protected. His speech falls in line with many of the sentiments of the Democratic Party.
But the annals of Jewish history may not be so kind. Years from now, his speech, I believe, will be seen as a betrayal, precisely when Israel needed help the most.
Weiss is founding rabbi of the Hebrew Institute of Riverdale – the Bayit in the Bronx. He is the author of “Spiritual Activism: A Jewish Guide to Leadership and Repairing the World.”