If You've Lost Chuck Schumer, Bibi, It's Truly Time to Go | Opinion

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) has often, in a play on his name, referred to himself as "Ha Shomer" or "the defender" of Israel. For most of the past few decades he meant that he was defending Israel from criticism. He meant that he was defending American political support for Israel, regardless of its policies and actions. And on many occasions, he was defending Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

But today, in a truly historic shift, Schumer stood up and defended the people of Israel and their future. He did so by speaking out loudly and clearly in opposition to Netanyahu and to his failed government of fascists, felons, and fundamentalists. And he spoke in favor of the path to a better future for Israelis and Palestinians alike, the two-state solution.

Israel is, of course, a sovereign state that unquestionably has the right to make its own political decisions. But decisions have consequences. And as Schumer made clear, those consequences now include the loss of American support for Netanyahu and his government.

To be clear, there is no doubt that President Biden, Schumer, and the vast majority of members of Congress continue to support the people of Israel. But they and so many others are no longer willing to extend that to a government that has placed its own political viability above the needs of its people.

This Israeli government includes ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, two right-wing extremists who, as recently as two years ago, were considered outside of acceptable political actors in Israeli society. They are often referred to as Israel's Proud Boys. And they have now been emboldened and empowered by Netanyahu.

This government is perpetrating a war that, while it was necessitated by the horrific Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, has been prosecuted with no viable plan for, or even realistic definition of what constitutes a victory. Tens of thousands of Palestinian men, women and children have been killed, and the Gaza Strip has been reduced to rubble. The United States has repeatedly called for the Israeli government to articulate a plan for how it will wage this war while minimizing civilian casualties and following international human rights law.

Once again, the Israeli government can make its own decisions and it does not need to answer to the United States. But if that is the case then, as Schumer made clear, there are consequences for those decisions. The United States has repeatedly vetoed UN Security Council resolutions calling for an immediate ceasefire. It may not necessarily do so in the future. The United States sends more than $3 billion in military aid to Israel annually, and since Oct. 7 has sent billions in additional arms and munitions. That too could come to a halt.

There is no American politician more deeply attuned to the Israeli public, more steeped in Israel's history, or more committed to its future as a Jewish and democratic state than the majority leader.

I do not always agree with Schumer when it comes to issues of Israel and Palestine. In fact, we often disagree. But he took the words right out of my mouth when he said "The Netanyahu coalition no longer fits the needs of Israel after Oct. 7. The world has changed—radically—since then, and the Israeli people are being stifled right now by a governing vision that is stuck in the past."

But Schumer took what I am sure was an extremely difficult step personally in making his speech on the Senate floor and calling for a change in Israel's political leadership. And in doing so he showed himself to truly be a friend to Israel.

Hadar Susskind is an Israeli-American, an IDF combat veteran, and the president and CEO of Americans for Peace Now.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.