An Open Letter to Senator Schumer

Dear Senator Schumer,

You have already been blasted by both American and Israeli Jews for your egregious error in calling for the ousting of democratically elected Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. I feel compelled to lend my voice as well. You are the highest ranking elected Jewish official in our country. You claim to speak for the majority of Jews. The majority of Jews are horrified at your statements. I am a citizen of America, and for this purpose, more importantly, a citizen living in New York state. Your state. And I am embarrassed that you represent me. You have in the past criticized others claiming interference in elections – and you are attempting to do the very same thing. To do so, and to call for that from the senate floor, in the middle of the existential crisis which is this war, is irresponsible, divisive and unacceptable. It is not the first time those in your party have tried to oust Prime Minister Netanyahu. I remember clearly when President Obama used our tax dollars to bus Arabs to the polls to try to vote Bibi out. He did not succeed, and you will not either. It is interesting how this statement came after the coordinated effort of Netanyahu’s rival, Benny Gantz, having had private talks in DC. The US intelligence community released a report critical of the Prime Minister, timed perfectly with your declaration from the senate floor. We are not sleeping, Senator. The Israeli people alone will vote for the leaders of the sovereign State of Israel. Perhaps this is Netanyahu’s 1973 moment, and perhaps he will need to step aside. That will be for the Israeli people alone to decide.

You seemed very concerned with Israel’s reputation on the world stage. The world has proven that it is antisemitic beyond a reasonable doubt. Allow me to quote the late Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin, whom you speak about in such high regard for reaching out a hand to make peace with Palestinian Arabs, “Enough is Enough!”

In your declaration, you stated that “the only real and sustainable solution for this decades old conflict is a negotiated two-state solution.” With whom, Senator Schumer? Have you no knowledge of the fact that Arabs were offered a deal multiple times only to reject those deals and deliver terror as their solution? The Palestinian Arabs have proven time and time again since 1937 that their only desire is to eradicate the Jewish people and the State of Israel. Indeed, as you stated, “insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different outcome.” You also stated that some Palestinians support Hamas. The majority of Palestinians support Hamas and look at the atrocities of October 7^th as a reasonable “path of resistance.” You said, “There are even some Israelis… who oppose a two-state solution….” Senator Schumer, the majority of Israelis, post October 7^th, oppose such a state.

You asked, “Why can’t we all live side by side and house by house in peace?” Those who lived in the Gaza envelope were hopeful of such peace. Their utopian ideals have been shattered into the rationalization that there is no partner for peace when it comes to the Palestinian Arabs.

The real answer is that Israel is a Jewish democracy living in the brutality that is the Middle East. Israel does not have the natural borders of oceans, does not have fellow democracies as her neighbors, and does not have the luxury, that you, an American Jew living a very comfortable life in the States, has. The playing field is much different and you, of all people should know this, since you claim to be the shomer, or guardian, of the Jewish people.

Interesting, when you listed those Israeli leaders who sought peace, you left out perhaps the biggest peace maker of them all, the former Likud Prime Minister Menachem Begin, who made an enduring and lasting peace with Egypt. You mentioned former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, but not his Israeli partner. Why should Jews not seek inspiration from him? Does he not fit your narrative?

The only thing you should be using your power for is to support Israel as she fights for her very survival and that of the Jewish people, and to bring home our hostages, some of whom are American, and from your state, New York. Please do so, the time is now, or as you so aptly quoted Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., it is the fierce urgency of now.

*The views expressed are the writer’s alone and in no uncertain terms reflect the stance of her employer.