Schumer’s Point Was Bigger Than New Israeli Elections
The Senate majority leader was really reminding Americans, Israelis and Palestinians alike to rediscover the nuance necessary for peace to have a chance.
Chuck Schumer, shomer of Israel.
Photographer: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Something momentous just surfaced in the evolving relationship between the US and Israel: a credible attempt to reintroduce nuance into one of the many debates corrupted by hyper-partisan polarization in both countries. More than just that, it was a cri de coeur to all of us to feel empathy not just for the Jewish victims of Hamas since Oct. 7, nor just for the innocent Palestinians civilians who have died in the Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip, but for all humans suffering in this conflict. It was an appeal to sanity.
The occasion was a speech on the floor of the US Senate. The orator was Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the highest-ranking elected US official of Jewish faith and a man whose pedigree and biography make his devotion to Zionism unimpeachable. His very name, as he pointed out, comes from Hebrew shomer, guardian, and marks him as looking out for the true and long-term interests of Israel, which “cannot survive if it becomes a pariah.”