Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Thanks for reminding me that Van Jones needs to be slapped.

The arc of history bends toward the same old fuckery.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Thanks to your bullshit, we are now under siege.

Wow, you are pre-disappointed. How surprising.

They think we are photo bombing their nice little lives.

Yeah, with this crowd one never knows.

Whatever happens next week, the fight doesn’t end.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

I’m sure you banged some questionable people yourself.

I was promised a recession.

I’d like to think you all would remain faithful to me if i ever tried to have some of you killed.

Not so fun when the rabbit gets the gun, is it?

I did not have this on my fuck 2022 bingo card.

“woke” is the new caravan.

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

You don’t get to peddle hatred on saturday and offer condolences on sunday.

We’ll be taking my thoughts and prayers to the ballot box.

Too often we hand the biggest microphones to the cynics and the critics who delight in declaring failure.

We are builders in a constant struggle with destroyers. let’s win this.

They traffic in fear. it is their only currency. if we are fearful, they are winning.

But frankly mr. cole, I’ll be happier when you get back to telling us to go fuck ourselves.

Prediction: the GOP will rethink its strategy of boycotting future committees.

Since when do we limit our critiques to things we could do better ourselves?

You are here: Home / Foreign Affairs / One Foot Forward, Two Steps Back

One Foot Forward, Two Steps Back

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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.

Reader Interactions

75Comments

  3. 3.

    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.

  5. 5.

    chopper

    ”Every time the Arab world, the Palestinians, have risen against us, we have risen to defeat them.”

    the world is in awe of your mighty power.

  6. 6.

    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.

  7. 7.

    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?

  9. 9.

    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.

  10. 10.

    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.

  11. 11.

    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?

  13. 13.

    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.

  16. 16.

    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.

  20. 20.

    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.

  22. 22.

    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.

  23. 23.

    David Koch

    Mark Fitzpatrick ‏@FitzpatrickIISS 24 Nov

    The more I read about the #Iran deal, the more it becomes clear that anybody knocking it didn’t really want any agreement.

    Verification measures more encompassing than I expected, incl immediate IAEA access to rotor production & centrifuge assembly workshops.

    The Geneva deal significantly sets back #Iran’s ability to produce nukes without being detected and stopped. Good day for non-proliferation.

  26. 26.

    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.

  30. 30.

    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.

  32. 32.

    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 . . .

  35. 35.

    Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader

    AIPAC and The Israel Lobby didn’t buy our Congress so we could have a Reagan-naming contest.

  37. 37.

    Just Some Fuckhead, Thought Leader

    Can we give Schumer back to Israel and the give Palestine back to the Turks?

  38. 38.

    Jose Arcadio Buendia

    Aside from the “I’m white why can’t I say [email protected](;;;” 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.

  40. 40.

    Jose Arcadio Buendia

    Aside from the “I’m white why can’t I say [email protected](;;;” 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.

  41. 41.

    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.

  42. 42.

    Cervantes

    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.

    There is more than one kind of “peace.”

  43. 43.

    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.

  44. 44.

    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.

  46. 46.

    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.

  49. 49.

    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.

  50. 50.

    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….

    Dear Senator Schumer:

    As one of your constituents (and, for what it is worth, a Jew, and what would be normally considered a “supporter” of Israel), I read an account of your address to the OHEL Childrens’ Home and Family Services yesterday, and can only say that I am appalled that a United States Senator, elected by, and to represent, the people of the State of New York, would articulate such a biased and belligerent attitude towards the diplomatic solutions the Administration has recently concluded regarding the Iranian nuclear program. Petty domestic political considerations aside, the PEACEFUL resolution of contentious international disputes is an issue of overriding importance for not only the nations involved, but for the planet in general. I would hope that you will, should a legislative endorsement of President Obama’s and Secretary Kerry’s initiatives come before the Senate, consider your vote on wider grounds than the parochial obsessions of an obsessive fringe of your (nominal) constituency.

    Sincerely yours,

    I’m sure that it would have more effect on an AIPAC letterhead, but what can you do…?

  52. 52.

    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….!

  56. 56.

    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??

  57. 57.

    Botsplainer

    @Mike E:

    And let Israel throw off their right-wing assholes, both at home and abroad.

    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).

  58. 58.

    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.

  59. 59.

    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.

  60. 60.

    Botsplainer

    @Ash Can:

    If Bibi wants the US to be a good ally he can damned well start acting like one himself.

    Goebbels couldn’t have said it better….

    /AIPAC mode

  62. 62.

    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.

  63. 63.

    Ash Can

    @Mike E:

    But don’t blame an entire ethnic group

    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.

  66. 66.

    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.

  67. 67.

    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.

  68. 68.

    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.

  69. 69.

    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!

  72. 72.

    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.

  74. 74.

    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?”

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