There may be no more destructive force for the state of Israel than her alleged supporters in the United States:
New York Senator Chuck Schumer was his usual hawkish self on Sunday evening. In an address to the OHEL Children’s Home and Family Services gala, Schumer railed against the deal the Obama administration struck with Iran and vowed that Democrats and Republicans would work to pile on more economic pressure on the country.
“Democrats and Republicans are going to work together to see that we don’t let up on these sanctions…until Iran gives up not only its nuclear weapons, but all nuclear weapon capability, all enriched uranium,” Schumer said. ”Every time the Arab world, the Palestinians, have risen against us, we have risen to defeat them. The one existential threat to Israel’s existence is a nuclear Iran.”
Who is he referring to as “we?” The United States? The Western World? Jews in general? The nation of Israel? Who is he speaking for?
If it is the latter two, then why does it make me a bigot or intemperate or making a dual-loyalty smear to note that he actually is elected to the United States Senate and not the Knesset, and it isn’t his job to enable a madman like Netanyahu? It just isn’t. And I have no idea why anyone who wants peace in the Middle East OR for Israel to survive would side with the lunatic Bibi and his crew of madmen.
LanceThruster
Who is a nuclear Israel an existential threat to?
Litlebritdiftrnt
And of course Morning Joe had Dan Senor on for his unbiased opinion (HA HA HA)
Elizabelle
OT: cool movie alert: Days of Being Wild by Wong Kar Wai, terrific Chinese director. Starring a young Tony Leung (1991).
8:00 p Eastern, Turner Classic Movies.
Did anyone else see this year’s “The Grandmaster”? Loved it.
Trust me, you’d rather think about seeing this movie than contemplating AIPAC.
Matt McIrvin
Iran is in the Arab world now?
chopper
the world is in awe of your mighty power.
FlipYrWhig
See, this is why I think Iran SHOULD have nuclear weapons. It can keep in check the theocratic, risk-prone thugocracy that governs Israel, and their enablers abroad.
Joe Buck
Schumer’s demand that Iran give up “all enriched uranium” is inconsistent with the terms of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, which Iran and the US have signed. It guarantees non-nuclear-weapons states access to nuclear technology, subject to verification.
But then, perhaps Schumer’s allies in the Likud party are unfamiliar with the text since Israel has not signed it?
Cermet
Sick ass-wipe thugs like that asshole does need someone to shit in its mouth … .
Mnemosyne
This is one of the reasons why people talking about the crazy, irrational mullahs in Iran drive me nuts. Of course Iran wants nuclear weapons — it’s their best defense against the US and Israel. It’s 100 percent rational for them to want them.
Fortunately for all of us, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, and Barack Obama were able to convince Iran that we probably weren’t going to go all cuckoo bananas again anytime real soon, so Iran could back down a little on the weapons research.
maximiliano furtive, formerly known as dr. bloor
I wouldn’t take a Schumer speech to an OHEL crowd to be a definitive statement on where the Senate is headed in terms of foreign policy.
smintheus
Schumer also seems to be making a might-makes-right argument on behalf of ‘our’ Israel. I wonder whether Arabs, Palestinians, or Iranians are permitted to take the same position as regards themselves?
LesGS
@Matt McIrvin: It’s embarrassing to see one of our elected representatives display such ignorance.
Lurking Canadian
@smintheus: of course not. That would be “false equivalence”. Sometimes you can even find wingnuts calling it a “double standard” to hold the good guys to the same standard as the bad guys. That’s my favorite.
Cassidy
@LanceThruster: Satan.
beltane
It seems that any Jewish person who disagrees with Netanyahu is subject to excommunication by Jeffrey Goldberg http://crookedtimber.org/2013/11/25/rabbi-goldberg-can-i-come-back-into-the-tent/
Bill in Section 147
I think this type of talk should preclude you from being an elected official in the United States. I get Israel is an ally and blah, blah, blah, but when push comes to shove doing what is best for Israel is not the oath you were elected to uphold.
Also, when I go to a Children’s Home and Family Services gala tell me how we can be a better community not how loud you can rattle a sword.
Bill in Section 147
@beltane: Wasn’t communion withheld from Goldberg by every sentient being long ago?
srv
Only Obama could stab our Israeli and Saudi allies in the back at the same time.
David Koch
Stoller, Cenk, Griftwald, and the Firebaggers were right, there’s no difference btwn Bush and Gore!.
nancy graham
AIPAC doesn’t speak for all Jews in America. J Street which touts itself as “The Political Home for Pro-Israel, Pro-Peace Americans was very supportive of the new agreement. I get up dates regularly from them. Their advisory council and supporters is a very impressive list.
j
A. I. P. A. C.
(Screw the real Israeli Embassy, that money funnel runs USA / Israel foreign policy.)
Gravenstone
“…risen against US”? Um, excuse me Chuckles, but you’re a fucking United States Senator, not a fucking Israeli spokesdrone. If they mean that much to you, renounce your citizenship and emigrate, because you clearly are not acting in the best interests of the country you reputedly belong to at the moment.
David Koch
Anoniminous
Schumer is a member of AIPAC. He’ll be pushing for Greater Israel until he retires.
Schlemizel
maybe I missed it but how are the pups?
as if you read comments
Cacti
Chuck has a sad.
Syria without chems and Iran without nukes means Bibi is fresh out of excuses for why he needs to keep building those illegal settlements.
TheRza
Did Schumer just describe Iran as part of the “Arab world”?
Anoniminous
O/T good news: Herring wins Virginia attorney general race, elections board announces by 165 votes.
J.D. Rhoades
@David Koch:
Bingo. There are people like Netanyahu and McCain who will not be satisfied until we’re hip deep in a war with Iran.
Petorado
…And Chuck, don’t forget to exact brutal and humiliating reparations payments out of Iran on top of your other hard line terms. If we’ve learned nothing from WWI, it’s that harsh terms imposed upon the weaker party always leads to peace in perpetuity. Way to be a student of history Sen. Schumer.
gbear
Great news! So when do the republicans accuse the electon board of rushing the decision?
kc
If it is the latter two, then why does it make me a bigot or intemperate or making a dual-loyalty smear to note that he actually is elected to the United States Senate and not the Knesset, and it isn’t his job to enable a madman like Netanyahu?
Well, not in MY opinion . . .
Comrade Jake
I wonder what Greenwald thinks of the Iran deal.
PeakVT
Who is he speaking for?
Neocons, and the voices in his head.
Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader
AIPAC and The Israel Lobby didn’t buy our Congress so we could have a Reagan-naming contest.
JMG
If Israel bombed Buffalo, Schumer would say Buffalo had it coming.
Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader
Can we give Schumer back to Israel and the give Palestine back to the Turks?
Jose Arcadio Buendia
Aside from the “I’m white why can’t I say n@(;;;” type explanation you gave, I agree Schumer is full of shit on this.
Please don’t conflate Israel and Bibi or even Zionists and Bibi. You might try Gershom Gorenberg’s latest.
Cassidy
@Comrade Jake: “How can I make this about me?”
Jose Arcadio Buendia
Aside from the “I’m white why can’t I say n@(;;;” type explanation you gave, I agree Schumer is full of sh1t on this.
Please don’t conflate Israel and Bibi or even Zionists and Bibi. You might try Gershom Gorenberg’s latest.
Comrade Jake
There’s a documentary on Netflix, I think it’s called Fifth Avenue or something, about tax rates for the wealthy. It blamed Chuckie Schumer (D – Wall St) for single-handedly blocking an increase in capital gains tax rates.
Heckofa guy.
Cervantes
There is more than one kind of “peace.”
Turgidson
@Comrade Jake:
I imagine he’s writing his magnum opus now about how this is actually Obama’s secret plan to get the US into a war with Iran, and only he, Glenn Greenwald, is smart enough to see through it. And somehow, Gitmo, drones and/or the NSA will have key roles.
Mike E
@Jose Arcadio Buendia: Really. This.
Who lit the Great Orange Sofa on fire? Jeebus, get a grip, y’all. Fuck Bibi. But, the Israel bashing, you’re really showing your asses.
Let Iran come back to the rest of the world. And let Israel throw off their right-wing assholes, both at home and abroad. Also.
ETA Too.
Joel
Iran isn’t part of the Arab world.
Suffern ACE
So was the rant about starving Iran to submission part of an interview, or was that the main draw at the Children’s Home fundraiser?
They do feel so good about themselves when they raise money for a good cause, it’s easy to forget how traumatized they are by suffering.
Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader
@Comrade Jake: Chuck Schumer is with us on everything but the war.
Ash Can
It’s great to have allies. The more, the better. But for fuck’s sake, what part of “Oath of fucking Office” do these duplicitous douchebags not understand?
the Conster
@Mike E:
Who elected Bibi? It’s like if the US elected Dick Cheney president. It’s not mindless Israel bashing when they’ve elected one of the biggest fucking assholes on the planet. Elections have consequences.
Jay C
Well, for good or ill, Chuck The Schmuck is MY Senator, so I’ll include herein a copy of email I just sent him. Admittedly, It’s nowhere near as nasty as the typical blog-comment I’d post, but….
I’m sure that it would have more effect on an AIPAC letterhead, but what can you do…?
beltane
@Jay C: That is a very nice letter. I hope he receives many others like it.
Jay C
@Anoniminous:
Hey, Lyndon Johnson leveraged an election victory by just 87 (highly dubious) votes into a major national political career: Mark Herring is still 78 ahead in the “landslide” annals! Good luck to him….!
Thlayli
@Jose Arcadio Buendia:
Israel is a democracy. Bibi is in charge because his party won an election.
Jay C
@beltane:
Thanks. I have a more blog-worthy draft saved, just in case….
Anoniminous
@Jay C:
Could try typing it on the back of a check for $1,000,000.
Good job
SiubhanDuinne
I miss EllaEsther. She hasn’t posted on BJ in a couple of years, and recently tossed her own blog into limbo. I’d love to read her thoughts on the Iran deal. EE, you out there lurking??
Botsplainer
@Mike E:
Not going to happen.
Query – what will the Middle East look like in 50 years, post oil and after the Arab overthrow of the Israeli government (and subsequent harsh occupation of Jewish areas).
Anoniminous
@gbear:
Reading the comments, that dog is already in the hunt.
@Jay C:
Good remembering. Outcomes like this and that causes me to go a little bit crazy when I hear, “My vote doesn’t count.” Oh course it bloody well counts.
Ash Can
@Mike E: Israel — as in, the government thereof — doesn’t get any passes for bad behavior. And that includes expecting the US to shut up and do as it’s told and fight Israel’s wars. If Bibi wants the US to be a good ally he can damned well start acting like one himself.
Botsplainer
@Ash Can:
Goebbels couldn’t have said it better….
/AIPAC mode
El Caganer
@Cervantes: “They make a desert and call it peace.” – Tacitus
Mike E
@Ash Can: @the Conster: @Botsplainer: I feel yer pain. But, seriously? Don’t go all orange now. It just comes off as mansplainin’ shit I already know about.
Mom was a Zionist, survived the Shoah, died before the 1st Intifada started. Believe me, I wish she had seen that. I respected her too much to try shaming her or to argue about it, but we were having a lot of discussions about how Israel justified it’s shameful treatment of Palestinians and I believe it might’ve opened her eyes. Oh well. Little good it would’ve done, anyway, she was no right-winger. Just one Jewish American. I certainly didn’t blame her for how fucked up Israel was acting.
Now today, I have two sisters older than our mom when she died, and I can’t image being able to change their minds about anything! It’s gotta be the next generation, I have faith in them. They’re gonna have to clear this logjam of right-wing assholes, and as an old-timer I’ll help to do my part (or stand out of the way if that’s helpful too). But don’t blame an entire ethnic group for fucked up corporate-run politics, it comes off as a bit, umm, baggerish.
Ash Can
@Mike E:
We’re not. We’re blaming Netanyahu. We’re blaming his policies. We’re blaming the right-wing warmongers who support him. And we’re blaming American politicians for suggesting the actions of the US government should be dictated by another nation’s government. If that’s “an entire ethnic group” to you, then you’ve just undercut your own argument.
chopper
@Mike E:
Likud is an ethnicity now? man, they get around.
BobS
@Jose Arcadio Buendia: You might try Max Blumenthal’s latest.
Jay
@Thlayli: “Israel is a democracy. Bibi is in charge because his party won an election.”
This is true, but it’s also true that, during the Bush (II) years, some of us would say, while traveling abroad, something like: “I’m an American, and don’t you dare tie me to Bush! He’s hurting my country, I voted against him and would again.”
If memory serves, citizens of other nations would say something similar to us, like: “I dig your country, but your current government pisses me off.”
Put simply, Israel’s in some real trouble for many reasons, but I can’t argue it’s a goner. Why? The next generation’s one example. Indeed, President Obama got an overwhelmingly positive reception from the college students he addressed.
Jay
Sullivan’s a pain in the ass, and I know he’s in the “monitor & mock as needed” category now, but he’s absolutely right to note that the Mideast is such a complex place that it often causes us to trip over ourselves, and each other, when discussing it. I write not to accuse you, Cole, but to point this out: one of the reasons I return to this blog is because I’ve seen you change your tone in response to readers. You’ve listened to what people have said on blackness, on homosexuality, and you’ve changed your language to reflect the complex nature of topics like those.
Simply saying something like, “Oh, this guy’s not a member of the Knesset” is always going to create more heat than light. Always, People will call each other names they can’t take back, and the discussion will end (also, the “Knesset” line doesn’t hold up is that there are, in fact, doves in that body that disagree with this PM; there aren’t enough of them, but that’s only proof that “tidal wave” elections happen the world over)/
In response to the line: “it’s not Schumer’s job to enable Netanyahu,” I offer a thought experiment: it is true, is it not, that when a righty “thought – leader” accuses POTUS of “helping a tyrant” in the event that POTUS takes a pragmatic, less-than-neocon hawk stance toward the Arab or Muslim world, alot of us get upset. I count myself in the group of offended people because what the righty’s most likely doing is playing to the popular anti-Obama slur that the president’s an Islamist double-agent.
I’m not accusing you of doing the same with Israel, Cole, I’m saying there are other ways to go about this than to say: “It’s not your job to do x.” In response, a hardcore supporter of Schumer might reach for “the argument from authority,” i.e. “you don’t have the job, so who are YOU to say what it is?” Lots of heat, zero light, & the conversation ends there.
We can have these discussions without resorting to easy shorthand like “he’s not in the Knesset.” I’d instead ask Schumer a series of questions, starting with: 1)Netanyahu hates our President yet calls himself an ally, so what, exactly, does the US get out of our continued collaboration? 2)Senator, are you at all aware of the very real divide in American Jewish thought about this country’s relationship with Israel? You know J-Street exists, right?
And so on.
Short of that, it’s totally accurate & uncontroversial to call Schumer an uninformed blowhard, then, if need be, give a concrete example of how he’s actually quite dumb about that which he thinks he knows much (pointing out that he doesn’t get how much Bibi’s hatred of Obama has hurt the two countries is, I think, quite important).
Getting late here. G’night to all.
El Cid
@chopper: No kidding! How Israel survived the Palestinians stealing all their bombs in the months before Obama’s inauguration and then just a little while ago again, I dunno. The Israelis worked hard building all those bombs and shells and helpfully shared them with Palestinian neighborhoods, then what do those bastards do? They make those nice bombs & shells explode all over themselves, in their homes & families and civilian infrastructure. Israel is clearly fortunate that they have such a fantastic bomb and missile making industry to replace the ones those terrifying Palestinians took from their planes & gun barrels.
Paul in KY
The latest Senator from Tel Aviv should know this, but Iranians are not Arabs.
Note: Got to edit my post. This happens about once a month!
Paul in KY
@Anoniminous: Great news, assuming it holds up!
Paul in KY
@Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader: He does begin to remind me of another person who was said to be like that…
Paul in KY
@Jay C: Word processing software now can create a completely believable AIPAC header. Just have to see a real one to know what it looks like.
Paul in KY
@SiubhanDuinne: I would also like to hear her point of view. She is a very sharp person.
Paul in KY
@Jay: No, Jay. The question is: “Does the United States’ security concerns differ from Israel’s and if so, as an elected representative of the United States, should you refrain from appearing to place the security concerns of a foreign nation above our own?”
Manyakitty
@Jay C: Please share any response!