OPINION: Trump was not wrong to call out Schumer
Senate leader’s stance on Israel has made him a symbol of useful idiocy
Chuck Schumer is an American Jewish politician who has led the Democrats in the US Senate since 2017. Earlier this week President Trump stated in a press conference that: “Schumer is a Palestinian as far as I’m concerned. He’s become a Palestinian. He used to be Jewish. He’s not Jewish anymore. He’s a Palestinian.”
Strong words indeed. Trump is no stranger to creating a disruptive controversy with his comments. In his deft understanding of a mainstream media that has consistently treated him with a contemptuous bias, Trump knows the potential of a well-worded soundbite that may be ignored or misreported by the established news outlets, but which will go viral in the various channels of the world’s new media.
A committed supporter of former Presidents Biden and Obama, prior to last year’s presidential election, Schumer together with other prominent Democrats, had sought for America to flex its muscles.
Among other measures, Schumer proposed the restriction of military aid to Israel in the (ultimately frustrated) hope of on the one hand, influencing Israeli Government policy and on the other, (futilely) appealing to those in the US electorate who believed that Israel should be “reined-in” in its response both to Hamas’ atrocities and also the conflict that Hezbollah had opened up on Israel from the north, immediately following the Hamas attacks of 7 October. His stance drew criticism from many in America’s Jewish community which this week has only gained extra momentum.
Of course, Trump knows that Chuck Schumer remains a Jew. But what the president’s comments have thrown into very clear relief is that Schumer is a talisman to those Western Jews (and a fair number in Israel too) whose stance leads to a potential weakening of the Jewish state, gives succour to Israel’s enemies and ultimately earns the increasingly apt descriptions of “Israel-hating Jews” or perhaps more pertinently, “useful idiots”.
Across the diaspora, examples of this useful idiocy abound. As recently as December 2024, one of the rabbis at London’s Liberal Jewish Synagogue argued that at a march organised by the Campaign Against Antisemitism, protesting against the rise of antisemitism in the UK, that Israeli flags should have been banned.
The rabbi’s argument clearly set out his opposition to Israel’s current government. Fair enough. In the only democracy in the Middle East, when a majority of Israelis have had enough of Netanyahu they will vote him out. But in his barely contained contempt for the current Israeli Prime Minister, in arguing to ban the display of Israel’s flag (itself a proud and universal statement of Jewish identity) the learned Rabbi disavowed the State of Israel itself – and this from a communal leader.
Perhaps one of the most tragic revelations of how misguided liberal thinking has been, was recently offered by Dr Sheila Nazarian, a Jewish activist originally from Iran and now resident in the USA. We know that when the massacres of 7 October took place, the Israeli communities that suffered the worst of Hamas’ brutal atrocities were those in the Gaza envelope, who prior to that day had been peaceniks seeking co-existence with the Gazans.
It was shortly after 7 October that Nazarian was speaking at a Bring Them Home rally, where some of the hostage families were present. Nazarian relates: “I asked the audience, Why didn’t you listen to the Persian Jews when we told you these people do not share your core values? Why didn’t you listen to us? As Jews we value life, chai, and what do they value the most? Death and martyrdom.”
Nazarian continued: “And a member of the audience stood up and said to me, ‘You know, our religion wasn’t Judaism, our religion was peace, and our religion has been shattered'”. Nazarian sagely concluded: “How can you make peace with someone that wants you dead?” A question that is almost impossible to answer with any degree of compassion.
A further glimpse into the useful idiocy underpinning Schumer and his ilk was defined, not by Trump, but former President Clinton on the Democrat’s campaign trail barely four months ago. Speaking at a rally in Michigan, Clinton reported: “The only time Yasser Arafat didn’t tell me the truth was when he promised he was going to accept the peace deal that we had worked out.” Clinton spoke with a rare moral clarity that Schumer would do well to emulate.
Chuck Schumer, a Jew, may not be a Palestinian but President Trump was right to call him out.
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