LOS ANGELES.–Calling for new elections in Israel, 73-year-old Senate Majority Leader tests the water for 81-year-old President Joe Biden, who’s been playing both sides against the middle in the Israeli-Hamas War. Facing a grueling reelection fight with 77-year-old former President Donald Trump, the White House worries about losing American Muslim votes concentrated in key battleground states of Michigan and Minnesota, where the Arab population wants Biden to demand an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu,74, has been locked in a deadly war against the terror group Hamas that massacred 1,200 Israelis, taking 250 hostages Oct. 7, 2023. Netanyahu vowed to fight until Hamas surrenders and leaves Gaza. Given Hamas’s elaborate tunnel system and embedded into the Gaza civilian population, the war has faced many obstacles.
Hamas has kept up the international pressure on Israel claiming the human catastrophe in Gaza, presenting the global community with unverified daily casualty counts, grossly exaggerating civilian deaths over the last five months. Delivering a speech calling for new elections in Israel, Schumer expressed his frustration with Netanyahu, but, more importantly, tested the water with Democrat Party Muslim constituents who could sit out the election in November. Asked about Schumer’s speech calling for new Israeli elections, Binden congratulated Schumer. “He made a good speech,” Biden said. “He expressed a serious concern, shared not only by him but by many Americans, admitting that he had advance notice of Schumer’s speech. Biden sits on the fence knowing any attempt to undermine the Israeli-Hamas War would give Trump and the GOP added fuel for November.
Asking a sovereign country to call for regime change is meddling in another state’s independence. Whatever happens in Israel’s War with Hamas in Gaza, it has little bearing in the U.S. other than possible voters for Biden and Democrats in November. Schumer’s speech was already met with a stern backlash by Republicans with Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) giving a powerful rebuttal to Schumer’s arguments. Everyone wants peace in the Middle East but Schumer knows, as a backer of Israel, that Israel cannot make peace with a terrorist group chartered to destroy the Jewish State. Schumer kids himself talking about a two-state solution when the West Bank Palestinian Authority [PA] is led by 87-year-old Mahmoud Abbas, a feckless leader with no control over Hamas. Abbas lost the Gaza Strip June 14, 2007 to Hamas in an armed takeover.
Schumer’s speech was not his own but carefully planned with the White House as a trial balloon to see the backlash created. Biden is caught between a rock and a hard place, showing any separation with the Netanyahu government, at the same time, shoring up Muslim American votes in the Upper Midwest where the November election could be won or lost. For White House strategists, they’re concerned about votes in battleground states, knowing the election could hinge on the usually reliable Democrat Arab votes in the Midwest. Let there be no mistake, Schumer delivered a White House speech in the Senate designed to test the water heading into the general election. Biden’s handlers are concerned that with all of Tump’s legal problems, he’s still leading Biden in the polls. Mideast experts know that the U.S. or Israel has no peace partner with Palestinians in Gaza or the West Bank.
Schumer makes the outrageous statement that Netanyahu “no longer fits the needs of Israel” after five months of war. Schumer really means that the Israeli-Hamas war no longer fits Biden’s election strategy to pull in all the Democrat Muslim votes in the Midwest. Schumer, the highest ranking Jewish official as Senate Majority Leader, supports Israel, but at the same time, does the White House bidding, especially during an Election Year. Schumer pontificates that it would be “grave mistake” for Israel to reject a two-state solution, spewing the kind of twisted rhetoric that hurts Israel and the United States. Would Schumer advocate a two-state solution with Al-Qaeda or ISIS, two vicious Islamic terror groups? How is Israel supposed to make peace with groups that call for its destruction? Biden can’t make peace with Russia or China, two nuclear-armed adversaries.
Schumer and White House foreign policy experts know that there is no viable Palestinian peace partner left in Gaza or the West Bank for Israel to consider a two-state solution. Hamas in Gaza is a U.S.-recognized terror group and titular PA leader Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank has no power at all, actually isn’t liked by anyone. So, when Schumer talks of the two-state solution, it’s purely to counter Netanyahu for the purpose of shoring up Arab votes in the Midwest. Schumer serves as a White House stooge, hoping to take the heat off Biden and put it on himself. Graham blasted Schumer for making irresponsible statements all for the purpose of testing the water for Arab votes in the Midwest. Israel, or the U.S. for that matter, has no Palestinian peace partner today for a two-state solution. White House should work on improving relations with Russia and China.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
