Schumer warns of making support for Israel ‘partisan’ amid reports he rejected Netanyahu request to speak to Democratic senators
Lauren Gambino
The Senate’s Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, indicated he rejected a request from the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to address his lawmakers today.
“When you make these issues partisan, you hurt the cause of Israel,” Schumer told reporters when asked if he turned down Netanyahu. US media outlets report that prime minister wanted to talk to Democratic senators during a closed-door meeting.
Last week, Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in the United States, broke with Netanyahu and called on Israel to hold new elections. He criticized the prime minister for the high civilian death toll in Gaza, and said Netanyahu was among a group of politicians and groups who were undermining efforts to implement a two-state solution to the crisis between Israel and Palestine.
Key events
Chuck Schumer’s public criticism of the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his call for the country to hold elections came after months of deliberations, the Democratic Senate leader revealed to the New York Times this weekend.
“I said to myself, ‘This may hurt me politically; this may help me politically.’ I couldn’t look myself in the mirror if I didn’t do it,” Schumer, who represents New York, said in an interview. He added that the point of his speech “was to say you can still love Israel and feel strongly about Israel and totally disagree with Bibi Netanyahu and the policies of Israel”.
Schumer noted he spent about two months working on his speech, writing multiple drafts of an address intended to make clear he believed Netanyahu is “the fount of the problems”.
The Senate leader has faced considerable criticism for his public break with Netanyahu, most notably from Republicans. Here’s more on that:
The rift between the top Senate Democrat, Chuck Schumer, and the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, became public suddenly, amid continuing reports of terrible humanitarian conditions in Gaza. Here’s the latest on that, from the Guardian’s Peter Beaumont:
The accusation by the UN and other humanitarians that Israel may be committing a war crime by deliberately starving Gaza’s population is likely to significantly increase the prospect of legal culpability for the country, including at the international court of justice.
Amid reports that the Israel Defense Forces are hiring dozens of lawyers to defend against anticipated cases and legal challenges, the charge that Israel has triggered a “man-made famine” by deliberately obstructing the entry of aid into Gaza is backed by an increasing body of evidence.
Already facing a complaint of genocide from South Africa at the ICJ, the UN’s top court – including an allegation that senior Israeli political officials have incited genocide in public statements – Israel is also the subject of a provisional emergency ruling by the court ordering it to admit life-saving aid to Gaza.
Schumer warns of making support for Israel ‘partisan’ amid reports he rejected Netanyahu request to speak to Democratic senators
Lauren Gambino
The Senate’s Democratic leader, Chuck Schumer, indicated he rejected a request from the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to address his lawmakers today.
“When you make these issues partisan, you hurt the cause of Israel,” Schumer told reporters when asked if he turned down Netanyahu. US media outlets report that prime minister wanted to talk to Democratic senators during a closed-door meeting.
Last week, Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in the United States, broke with Netanyahu and called on Israel to hold new elections. He criticized the prime minister for the high civilian death toll in Gaza, and said Netanyahu was among a group of politicians and groups who were undermining efforts to implement a two-state solution to the crisis between Israel and Palestine.
Maya Yang
Pete Aguilar, chair of the House Democratic caucus, said that Donald Trump “doesn’t belong anywhere near the Oval Office” following the ex-president’s comments that there will be a “bloodbath” in the US if he loses the election.
Aguilar said:
He represents a clear and present danger to democracy. His comments over the weekend …should be taken both literally and seriously … Donald Trump would sacrifice our way of life in a heartbeat if he thought that it could bring him political power. He doesn’t belong anywhere near the Oval Office and don’t just take our word for it – the former VP, his former chief of staff, his former defense secretary, and his former secretary of state all agree.
“[Trump] doesn’t belong anywhere near the Oval Office and don’t just take our word for it — the former VP, his former chief of staff, his former defense secretary, and his former secretary of state all agree.”
— House Dems Chair Pete Aguilar (D-CA) on Trump’s “bloodbath” remarks pic.twitter.com/rw4amBU8r2
— The Recount (@therecount) March 20, 2024
Maya Yang
Here are more details from Punchbowl News on Chuck Schumer’s reported refusal to allow Benjamin Netanyahu to address the Senate Democratic caucus:
According to Schumer, having Netanyahu address the caucus would “not be helpful to Israel”, Punchbowl News reports.
Schumer declines Netanyahu’s request to address Senate Democratic Caucus – report
Maya Yang
The Senate majority leader, Chuck Schumer, has declined a request from the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to address the Senate Democratic Caucus, Punchbowl News reports.
According to the outlet, Schumer said these conversations should not happen “in a partisan manner”.
SCOOP in @PunchbowlNews Midday — Netanyahu asked to speak to the Senate Democratic Caucus as well. Schumer declined, saying these convos shouldn’t happen “in a partisan manner.”
Netanyahu speaking to Senate Republicans at their lunch right now
— Andrew Desiderio (@AndrewDesiderio) March 20, 2024
Netanyahu is scheduled to address Senate Republicans virtually during their lunch meeting today.
Last week, Schumer sparked backlash from Republican leaders and Netanyahu’s Likud party after he called for new elections in Israel and criticized Netanyahu’s leadership.
Since October, Israel’s war on Gaza has killed more than 31,000 Palestinians while forcibly displacing 2 million survivors across the narrow strip.
The day so far
Texas has experienced a case of judicial whiplash, after the supreme court yesterday allowed its law giving police the power to arrest suspected illegal border crossers to go into effect. But just hours later, a federal appeals court blocked it again, and the matter seems set for further legal wrangling that may well wind up before the supreme court at some point in the future. Back in Washington DC, Republicans pressed on with their impeachment investigation into Joe Biden, despite revelations that a key source for their unproven allegations received information from Russian intelligence. At a hearing of the House oversight committee, Democrats hammered the credibility of the GOP’s witnesses, and one lawmaker made the point by showing up in a Vladimir Putin mask.
Here’s what else is happening:
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A Georgia judge allowed Donald Trump to appeal his ruling last week that prosecutor Fani Willis could stay on the election subversion case against him, but only if special counsel Nathan Wade leaves.
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The Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, said he understood where Trump was coming from when he accused Democratic Jews of hating Israel and their religion – comments that drew accusation of antisemitism.
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Joe Biden announced new rules that could dramatically slash emissions from passenger cars and trucks to fight the climate crisis.
Republicans invited two witnesses to today’s House oversight committee hearing: Tony Bobulinski and Jason Galanis, both former business associates of Hunter Biden.
But only Bobulinski could actually show up, since Galanis is currently incarcerated for securities fraud.
Bobulinski, meanwhile, has his own checkered past, one that the committee’s top Democrat Jamie Raskin made note of at the hearing:
Raskin at hearing on Bidens goes after GOP witnesses:
“The first is Mr. Bobulinski…whose famously litigious history includes unsuccessfully suing his own dying father’s charity…and…suing Cassidy Hutchinson…after she reported” that he met with Mark Meadows wearing ski mask. pic.twitter.com/nYp8vuMO8z
— The Recount (@therecount) March 20, 2024
House Republicans have long clamored for Hunter Biden to appear before them.
And while the president’s son did consent to a behind-closed-doors interview, NBC News reported that his lawyer last week told Republicans: “Mr Biden declines your invitation to this carnival side show.”
So the oversight committee today left an empty seat with a placard reading “Mr Biden”, perhaps hoping he would make another surprise appearance:
Democratic lawmaker mocks House GOP as they press on with Biden impeachment push
House Republicans appear to be pressing on with their impeachment inquiry into Joe Biden’s alleged corruption, even as they have yet to turn up evidence that the president benefited from his family members’ overseas business dealings.
They’re also dealing with the fallout from revelations that an informant crucial to their case received information from Russian intelligence. But as the House oversight committee gathered for their latest hearing in the investigation, Democratic lawmaker Jared Moskowitz sought to remind them by showing up in a Vladimir Putin mask:
Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-FL) wears a Vladimir Putin mask to the House Oversight Committee hearing on the Biden family:
“I just came to thank James Comer for taking all of our intelligence and using it in the committee. Maybe he can come see the technology in our grocery stores.” pic.twitter.com/WPzgDPYz2C
— The Recount (@therecount) March 20, 2024
