Yaakov Menken

by Rabbi Yaakov Menken and Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld in Daily Caller.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer has a new book out, titled “Antisemitism in America: A Warning.” He describes therein how bigotry against Jews is growing on both political sides, and writes that he felt a change in his responsibility as a Jewish American leader after the antisemitic Hamas pogrom of Oct. 7.

In his words, he “had to act.” But when it came time to introduce his book to the public, he abruptly postponed his publicity tour due to “security concerns.” This illustrates not only the prominence in America of the antisemitism he decries, but his failure to confront it with courage.

Throughout his career Sen. Schumer has claimed to be a guardian of Jewish interests, but his public statements and actions have frequently conveyed a very different message. This was especially on display during the last year—after the same Oct. 7 attacks that he claims motivated him to do more.

As Israel worked frantically to rescue hostages and neutralize the Hamas terror organization in March of last year, Schumer attacked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from the Senate floor, calling for elections and new leadership in Israel.

Even fellow Democrats criticized his remarks, while Republicans asserted correctly that they caused “enormous damage.” To label the Israeli leader an “obstacle to peace” while facing a genocidal threat was akin to blaming Jews for failing to appease the Nazis, while hinting that Israel was losing American support certainly gave bloodthirsty Hamas fighters a morale boost.

A recent House Republican Staff report from the Committee on Education and the Workforce revealed that Schumer responded with a similarly stunning lack of concern to the surge of antisemitic protests and violence at Columbia University. He advised Columbia’s former president, Minouche Shafik, to “keep heads down,” because their “political problems are really only among Republicans.” This, from a self-proclaimed guardian of the Jewish community.

Earlier this year, Schumer blocked efforts to sanction the International Criminal Court (ICC) for its prejudiced and lawless arrest warrants against Israeli officials. The ICC has a pattern of transgressing its own authority to harm American and allied interests, but Schumer claimed the sanctions bill was “poorly drafted” and would have “many unintended consequences.” On the contrary, those consequences were designed to deter even the most woke of American companies and foreign governments from working with the ICC or complying with its anti-Israel and anti-American rulings.

Despite all of the foregoing, Schumer has stepped forward this year to be a key Senate sponsor of the Antisemitism Awareness Act, which defines when anti-Israel or “anti-Zionist” language ventures into antisemitism.

This act will help ensure the safety of Jewish students on campus, and prevent universities from sliding further into bigotry and hate. But when he led the Senate as Majority Leader last year, Schumer failed to bring this same bill to the floor despite assuring Jewish audiences that he would.

Did Schumer genuinely have a change of heart about the bill’s importance? Or, alternatively, did he bury it as Majority Leader in order to hide the sharp divide within his caucus, but now, knowing that the bill will be introduced and will surely pass, is finally voting his conscience, especially as his book goes on sale? Sadly, it seems far more likely that for Schumer, protection of the Jewish community took a back seat to political expediency.

Sen. Schumer must now demonstrate that he has genuinely had a change of heart, and that he will oppose antisemitism and other forms of hatred even when it requires moral courage to do so. Instead of castigating Netanyahu, he could begin by repudiating the terror-supporting Democrats in both houses and call for them to be expelled from the caucus he leads.

George Washington recalled the biblical prophet, Micah, when he envisioned an America in which “every one shall sit in safety under his own vine and fig tree and there shall be none to make him afraid.”

It is imperative that leaders of both parties share that vision; if Sen. Schumer cannot clearly and emphatically provide that leadership for Senate Democrats, it is time for him to not merely flee from protesters, but to turn over the leadership to a Senator who can face them down.

Rabbi Yaakov Menken is Executive Vice President and Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld is President of the Coalition for Jewish Values.

Photo Credit: Sen. Chuck Schumer by Senate Democrats, with CC BY 2.0 license on Flickr.

Originally published in JNS

Provoking outrage from the United Nations, human-rights organizations and Arab governments, Israel is blocking further aid to Gaza. It comes as the first phase of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has ended and Hamas refuses to agree to a U.S. proposal for a ceasefire extension. But even without this valid reason, and despite the condemnations, Israel has adopted the morally correct approach.

For more than a year, the Biden administration’s insistence that Israel provide support to its mortal enemies prolonged the conflict, trapped Palestinian civilians in a war zone, and condemned innocent hostages to months of torture, abuse and death.

There is a saying in the Midrash: “Those who are compassionate to the cruel will ultimately be cruel to the compassionate.”

The billions of dollars that have flowed into Gaza over the past two decades under the guise of humanitarian aid enabled the governing genocidal junta to solidify its control, arm for war and indoctrinate the Arab populace to seek death and destruction. Hamas then carried out the worst pogrom against Jews since the Holocaust and has broadcast its intent to repeat its atrocities if allowed to survive. The requirement that Israel sustain the same terrorists it must eliminate only further demonstrates the truth of this aphorism.

Days after Oct. 7, 2023, I predicted and dismissed the disingenuous calls for “restraint” that would hound Israel in the aftermath of the slaughter. This did not reflect a lack of concern for the costs of war; it was born of a commitment to human rights and an opposition to antisemitic double standards. As I wrote then, world leaders and members of Congress don’t call for restraint when people are fighting totalitarian regimes or terrorists, unless the victims are Jews.

In late October 2023, amid closed border crossings into Gaza, Biden administration officials predicted a humanitarian crisis, saying that fuel supplies were expected to last “a couple of days.” They did not mention at that early date that Hamas was considering trading hostages for that fuel. Rafael Hayun, an analyst and civilian hacker who monitors Hamas communications, went further in a recent interview with Ami Magazine. He claimed that had the siege lasted longer, “we would have had everything,” with Hamas fighters flying a white flag and turning over Yahya Sinwar, architect of the Oct. 7 murderous assault, to Israel.

Even as Israel worked to provide Gazan hospitals with fuel, the Biden administration forced Israel to surrender its critical bargaining chips and supply Hamas with all the fuel it needed, plus enough food and other aid to stock every pantry in Gaza. This is why—after months of cries from the United Nations and others of “impending famine”—healthy, well-fed Hamas fighters and supporters were dancing and cheering as they paraded the coffins of Kfir and Ariel Bibas, babies they kidnapped and slaughters had slaughtered. The only emaciated victims in sight were the surviving hostages they had deliberately starved.

None of these lies were incidental, they are key to the strategies of Hamas and its Iranian, Qatari and European allies throughout the conflict. For nearly two decades Hamas built tunnels under civilian buildings and stored weapons in mosques, schools and shelters. They set up a data center beneath and borrowed connectivity from the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) headquarters. Palestinian Authority officials noted that Hamas was maximizing civilian casualties for PR reasons, while world outlets unanimously blamed Israel for Hamas Health Ministry death counts so inflated and unrealistic as to be statistically impossible. Despite the cries of “genocide,” Israel remains the only party in the conflict working to save civilians from harm, and it has succeeded to an unprecedented degree.

It is also worth considering how innocent Gazan civilians truly are. During the Nazi era, civilians in every country under Hitler’s control—including Germany, Poland, France, Holland, Austria and Hungary—saved Jews from harm at great personal risk. Since Oct. 7, Israel has broadcast Arabic-language announcements on radio, television, social media and in print, promising security and a generous financial reward to anyone helping rescue a hostage. Not one Gazan has responded. Instead, they participated in the kidnappings, rapes, imprisonment, humiliation, torture of hostages and desecration of their bodies.

Where are the decent, innocent Gazans? Sadly, they are dead. Hamas has long since murdered anyone identified as gay or as a supporter of the Palestinian Authority, as well as anyone who opposed their iron-fisted and antisemitic agenda.

The withholding of aid has always been, and remains, a just and moral course of action. Hamas must release the hostages, abandon its explicitly genocidal mission and permanently disband. Aid should only come afterward to support the de-Nazification and rebuilding of Gaza. Until then, blame for all of the suffering in both Israel and the Strip must be placed firmly at the feet of the terrorists and their supporters around the world.

Photo Credit: Israel Foreign Ministry video on X/Twitter.