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This morning, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY), the highest ranking Jewish elected official in history, spoke about Israel on the Senate floor. He said that the elected Israeli government led by Benjamin Netanyahu "no longer fits the needs of Israel." He called the government "an obstacle to peace," and demanded new elections. He threatened that if the Netanyahu-led coalition remains in power, "then the United States will have no choice but to play a more active role in shaping Israeli policy by using our leverage to change the present course."

The RJC immediately made a statement condemning Sen. Schumer's remarks. RJC CEO Matt Brooks said:

As Israel continues to righteously fight to defend itself from barbaric terrorists, the most powerful Democrat in Congress knifed the Jewish state in the back.

This morning, taking a page from the 2015 Obama playbook, the Democratic Senate Majority Leader, Chuck Schumer, delivered a speech in which he demanded that Israel’s democratically-elected government be evicted from power and replaced by one more to his liking.

Senator Schumer crossed a real red line. It is outrageous and unacceptable to meddle in Israel’s domestic politics by demanding that a democratic ally hold elections on our timetable, particularly when the Jewish state is fighting for its very survival.

Senator Schumer has frequently described himself as the so-called "Shomer", or guardian, of the Jewish people - let there be no doubt that his remarks today were a "Shanda", a disgrace.

Today’s events serve as a clarion call to take back the White House and US Senate from this radical Democrat leadership, which is waging political warfare on our key ally Israel and rewarding terrorists.

RJC National Chairman Senator Norm Coleman has known Sen. Schumer since their days together as schoolmates at PS 197 and James Madison High School in Brooklyn. In an op-ed published this afternoon at The Hill, he wrote:

It’s hard to believe that the smart Brooklyn boy I knew 60 years ago has so completely missed the mark.

...In this moment of crisis, Israel deserves our wholehearted support. Americans know this – the majority of them support Israel. But Democrats in Washington are seeing their poll numbers dropping and Schumer’s remarks make clear that they are increasingly willing to sacrifice our ally Israel to win votes in certain battleground states. It is a "shanda," a disgrace, that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer of Brooklyn, New York, is the one holding the knife.

Read Senator Coleman's full commentary at The Hill.

Republicans on Capitol Hill and Israeli officials pushed back hard on Sen. Schumer's attempts to dictate to a democratic ally who should be in charge and what their policies should be.

The RJC's message was picked up by The Times of Israel, The Jerusalem Post, and other outlets.

In the past week, we've seen Democrats attacking Israel and pressuring Israel from all sides:

Politico: The US privately told Israel the kind of Rafah campaign it could support

In private conversations, top administration officials have signaled to Israel that they could support a plan more akin to counterterrorism operations than all-out war, four US officials said. That, the administration officials argue, would minimize civilian casualties, decimate Hamas’ ranks and avoid scenes that have led to souring public opinion on Israel’s campaign and Biden’s handling of the war.

Politico: If Israel invades Rafah, Biden will consider conditioning military aid to Israel

President Joe Biden will consider conditioning military aid to Israel if the country moves forward with a large-scale invasion of Rafah, according to four US officials with knowledge of internal administration thinking.

JNS: As bills stall in Congress, eight Senate Democrats call for halt in Israel aid

Eight Democrat senators called on the Biden administration to halt aid to Israel, claiming that the Jewish state deliberately prevents U.S. aid from reaching Gazans.

Led by Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR), the Tuesday letter cites US President Joe Biden’s and Vice President Kamala Harris’s press statements to argue that it violates US law to provide aid to Israel.

Algemeiner: Democrat pressure on Biden admin over Gaza war grows as White House seeks list of weapons sales to Israel

Rising Democratic pressure on the Biden administration to distance itself from Israel amid the ongoing war in Gaza may be yielding results, with the White House asking the State Department and the Pentagon for a list of all weapons the US is planning to send the Jewish state over the next few weeks, according to a new report.

JNS: Blinken: Israel’s ‘job No. 1’ is protecting, aiding Gazans

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that protecting and aiding residents of Gaza is Israel’s primary mission as it wages war against the Hamas terrorist group.

“We look to the government of Israel to make sure this is a priority. Protecting civilians, getting people the assistance they need—that has to be job No. 1, even as they do what is necessary to defend the country and to deal with the threat posed by Hamas..."

JNS: Biden admin to sanction entire Jewish outposts over ‘settler violence’

The Biden administration is expected to impose new sanctions as early as Thursday on two Jewish outposts located beyond the Green Line that were allegedly used to launch attacks against Palestinians, according to an Axios report.

...Data has shown that such violence has been dropping for some time; Israel’s former foreign minister Eli Cohen in January called reports of growing "settler violence” a "blood libel" and "a lie disconnected from reality."

...On Tuesday, a representative of the Israel Police told lawmakers at the Knesset that far-left groups were increasingly spreading false accusations against Jewish residents of Judea and Samaria, causing severe harm to the state’s international standing.

...Meanwhile, Judea and Samaria saw a dramatic rise in Palestinian attacks in 2023 compared to the previous year, with shootings reaching their highest level since the Second Intifada of 2000-05, IDF data shows.

Do Democrats in Washington somehow think it's their job to tell Israelis how to fight their war with Hamas, who should govern Israel, and what that government's policies should be? Or is this really all about the 2024 election?

Jonathan Tobin argues cogently that it's about the election:

[The current Biden-Netanyahu] dispute, which is rapidly taking on all the signs of a major crisis between the two countries, is something unprecedented in the 75 years of a relationship that has fluctuated between fractious and warm for decades. This time, it’s almost entirely driven by domestic American politics.

...The reason for this campaign was made obvious by the tone and intended audience of Biden’s rhetoric in his State of the Union address. The president and his staff clearly believe that their dire political situation, in which he now trails former President Donald Trump, in battleground states like Michigan with its high proportion of Arab residents, as well as in national polls, require him to rally a faltering Democratic base to his cause.

Noah Rothman comments at National Review that public statements against Israel may not be enough for the voters Democrats is trying to secure:

The anti-Israel left doesn’t want new leadership in Israel; they want Biden to abandon Israel altogether. In that sense, Israel’s detractors have a better grasp on the political situation than the Democratic lawmakers who pander to them. Schumer’s problem isn’t with Bibi. It is with the people of Israel, who stubbornly refuse to submit to their own murder, torture, and perpetual besiegement.

At the same that the Biden administration criticizes and pressures Israel, it also continues to provide billions of dollars to Iran, as Adam Kredo reports at the Washington Free Beacon:

The Biden administration on Wednesday reapproved a sanctions waiver that unlocks upwards of $10 billion in frozen funds for the Iranian government, according to a copy of the notice submitted to Congress late Wednesday and reviewed by the Washington Free Beacon.

The sanctions waiver—which has drawn fierce GOP opposition on Capitol Hill—allows Iraq to transfer electricity payments to Iran via third-party countries. The sanctions waiver was last approved by the Biden administration in November and set to expire this month, putting the White House in a tight position as a mounting chorus of GOP lawmakers express concern about sanctions being bypassed. The authority granted in the latest waivers allows Iraq to convert dinars into Euros and transfer payments into Iranian banks accounts in Oman.

Republican foreign policy leaders in Congress raised concerns about the waiver earlier this week, the Free Beacon reported, saying that sanctions should not be lifted on the hardline Iranian regime in light of its support for Hamas and other terrorist proxy groups waging war on Israel and American outposts in the region.

On Monday, the RJC endorsed Congressman Nick LaLota for reelection in New York's First Congressional District:

The RJC is proud to endorse Congressman Nick LaLota, one of the impressive New York Republicans whose 2022 victory gave the GOP a majority in the House. He’s been an unflinching supporter of Israel’s right of self-defense and he’s spoken out on the problem of antisemitism on campus. He’s off to a strong start in the seat previously held by Jewish Republican Congressman Lee Zeldin.

Nick LaLota is a proud Navy veteran with a record of public service, integrity, and commitment to the people of NY-1. He is an asset to the House Armed Forces Committee, the House Homeland Security Committee, and the House Small Business Committee and a dedicated advocate for his constituents.

Democrats have targeted New York, putting big money and big-name liberals into the battle for seats the GOP captured last cycle, but Nick LaLota has earned the trust and esteem of the people of NY-1 and particularly the Jewish community of Long Island. We are proud to support him.

TPM: Ari Hoffman Show

RJC Political Director Sam Markstein went on the Ari Hoffman radio show today to talk about Sen. Chuck Schumer's mind-boggling attack on Israel from the Senate floor.

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Washington Notebook

And the Republican Jewish Coalition has launched a petition drive to pressure [Bob] Casey, a three-term incumbent, to rescind his endorsement of US Rep. Summer Lee, D-Swissvale, one of the most vocal critics in Congress of Israeli policy and the Jewish state’s conduct in the Hamas war. [Dave] McCormick has pressed Mr. Casey to join him in calling on the freshman congresswoman to resign.

JNS: Jewish groups laud House for passing TikTok bill

The Republican Jewish Coalition also supported the bill. “Many Jewish Americans awoke to the peril of TikTok after the October Hamas massacres, when the platform gained notoriety as a hotbed of pro-Hamas and antisemitic propaganda,” the RJC wrote.

JNS: RJC endorses New York Rep. Nick LaLota

[Sen. Norm] Coleman and [Matt] Brooks called LaLota "one of the impressive New York Republicans whose 2022 victory gave the GOP a majority in the House."

They said he had "been an unflinching supporter of Israel’s right of self-defense, and he’s spoken out on the problem of antisemitism on campus."

Tablet: How the Gaza Ministry of Health fakes casualty numbers

This article at Tablet Magazine received a lot of attention for breaking down, in easy-to-understand language, how mathematically improbable and suspicious the casuality numbers from the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health have been.

Author Abraham Wyner writes: "Here’s the problem with this data: The numbers are not real. That much is obvious to anyone who understands how naturally occurring numbers work... While the evidence is not dispositive, it is highly suggestive that a process unconnected or loosely connected to reality was used to report the numbers. Most likely, the Hamas ministry settled on a daily total arbitrarily. We know this because the daily totals increase too consistently to be real. Then they assigned about 70% of the total to be women and children, splitting that amount randomly from day to day. Then they in-filled the number of men as set by the predetermined total. This explains all the data observed."

JTA: Israel will officially participate in Eurovision after its latest song submission is approved

The European Broadcasting Union, which runs the annual contest, approved Israel’s most recent submission, titled "Hurricane, which had been revised after its first-choice song, "October Rain," was rejected because of the competition’s rules against political messaging. That song had been submitted along with another option, "Dance Forever, which was also denied. Both songs’ lyrics alluded to Hamas’ Oct. 7 invasion of Israel and its massacre at an outdoor music festival.

You can watch Israel's approved entry song, "Hurricane," here.

Times of Israel: By 44% to 30%, Israelis prefer Trump to Biden as next US president

Forty-four percent of Israelis would rather see former US president Donald Trump return to the White House in 2025, compared to 30% who would prefer US President Joe Biden be elected for a second term, according to a poll published by Channel 12 on Tuesday evening. An additional 26% said they didn’t know which of the two men they would rather see elected.

JNS: Red ‘ceasefire’ pin at Oscars reminiscent of Ramallah lynching of Jews

Celebrities who attended Sunday’s Oscars awards ceremony in Los Angeles’ Dolby Theater have come under fire for wearing a pro-Palestinian pin that many say supports terrorism against Israelis.

...According to Artists4Ceasefire, the red pin represents "support for an immediate and permanent ceasefire, the release of all of the hostages and for the urgent delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza."

...However, to Israelis, the red hand displayed on the pin is reminiscent of the October 2000 Ramallah lynching of IDF reservists Vadim Norzhich and Yosef Avrahami, who had accidentally entered the Palestinian Authority-controlled city of Ramallah.

While in the custody of P.A. police, the two were stabbed and beaten to death, their bodies mutilated and dragged through the streets. The most visceral image from that day was of one of the terrorists proudly waving his blood-soaked hands from the police station window.

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