Et tu, Schu?
Joan Swirsky, RenewAmerica analyst
"Schumer is not a Shomer" were the words emblazoned on dozens of placards that were held by some of the 12,000 people who flooded Times Square last week to protest the "Death to America/Death to Israel" deal that Barack Obama and his cronies made on July 14th with – to this day, to this hour – a palpably belligerent, anti-Western, anti-Semitic Iran.
The placards – and the demonstration in front of the senator's New York City office the next day – were to implore him to stop evading the subject with mealy-mouthed language ("I'll go through the agreement with a fine-tooth comb") and to reject the deal outright, vote against it in Congress, and convince at least 13 of his colleagues on the left to vote against the horrific deal. Congress is now reviewing the deal and will vote on September 17, in less than 50 days.
In short, to block the Iran deal, 67 Senators need to vote against it. 59 Senators are already committed to doing just that, and 14 are undecided, Sen. Schumer among them.
New York Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn) said that "We have listened to Senator Schumer for years and how he takes every opportunity to explain the origin of his name Schumer and what it means for him to be a proud 'Shomer' – which in Hebrew means protector. Now is the time to live up to your claim and put your words into action."
Last week, The New York Post asked Sen. Schumer 10 key questions about Iran – including if he had any input into the agreement, what he thought of its 24-day advance notice for inspections, and whether the deal raises new concerns for Israel – none of which he has answered to this day!
To Schumer's lame statement that he is "studying the issue," the Post responded: "Studying the issue? Please. There's nothing to study: Just nix the deal, Chuck....Schumer doesn't need to 'study' the deal. He needs to study his conscience."
Personally, I can hardly remember a Sunday-night news broadcast since Schumer was elected to the Senate in 1998 when he wasn't in front of the camera proposing actions to keep his uber-left constituents happy.
He was Chuckie-on-the-spot when it appeared that Adidas might outsource production overseas, in a plant where Schumer said 100 workers were at risk. But for the past three years, as the ayatollahs have menacingly threatened to annihilate Israel, deadly silence from Schumer. One hundred potential injuries more important than over six million deaths!
He was an early and enthusiastic backer of the national disaster known as Obamacare, and is a reliable opponent of guns, an advocate of open borders, and a full-throated supporter of abortion.
When the Planned Parenthood medical ghouls came out last week to reveal their sale of infant body parts (and the exquisite care taken to "crush" the fetus in strategic places, the better to preserve those parts), deadly silence from Schumer. I guess the 1.2 million fetuses destroyed each year in the U.S. are, in Schumer's mind, equal to over six million expendable Israelis, not even worthy of mention.
But I digress. This article is not to discuss the, ahem, value systems of leftists.
Clamming up
In June 2008 – five months before Barack Obama began to occupy the White House – Senator Schumer wrote an op-ed in The Wall St. Journal stating that cooperative economic sanctions from the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China could topple Iran's theocratic government.
Clearly, the passage of time and his current position have changed his tune. Today, Schumer is the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate, behind Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin. But Schumer has his eyes on a bigger prize, to replace Harry Reid in 2017.
So there you have it. Schumer's dilemma is clear – to be a loyal lackey to Barack Obama, the better not to lose his potential position of power, or to be the New York Jewish Senator he was in the past, a vocal and impassioned supporter of Israel.
For a full three years, Senator Schumer has known about every facet of the Iran deal called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, being put together by the P5+1 group of the UN (P standing for permanent members the Security Council – the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, and France – plus Germany):
A time of reckoning
Now is the time of reckoning, writes Jonathan S. Tobin in Commentary magazine online. "For once, Schumer must choose. It is one thing for those whose support for Israel has always been secondary to their left-wing ideology or pro-Obama partisanship (such as the J Street lobby or the National Jewish Democratic Council) to endorse this brazen act of appeasement. For Schumer, a man who has staked his career on being the shomer (guardian) of Israel's security in Congress, it would be a stunning betrayal that he would never live down."
Tobin then poses an ominous warning: "Even if [Schumer] chooses to vote in favor of a resolution that seeks to nullify the pact, he may also work behind the scenes to ensure that at least 34 Democrats back the president so as to ensure that an Obama veto won't be overridden."
Is there any doubt that Schumer – silent for three long years on this doomsday deal – is more than capable of this kind of treachery?
Rabbi Aryeh Spero, known as "America's Rabbi," is the author of Push Back and Why Israel Matters to You" and serves as the president of Caucus for America. Like Tobin, he questions Schumer's seeming paralysis.
The Iran deal, he says, "is Plan A for the ultimate annihilation of Israel, annihilation through active offense and by making Israel's defense impossible. To Iran, Mr. Obama has made the most earth-shattering compromises in the annals of history. Even Chamberlain did not provide Hitler with a $150 billion to arm up.
"This whole deal would go nowhere, be dead on arrival, if the most powerful Democrat right now in the Senate would announce it as DOA," Rabbi Spero continues. "That man is Sen. Chuck Schumer. Where is he? No one knows what he will do. Why should we be guessing? He should be out there, at this moment, saying No to this accord. Why should the Israelis have to live another moment in fear and anxiety? Where is his compassion? Schumer should stifle the accord now!"
My friend Howard Bockner from Canada echoes the rabbi's sentiments. "The U.S. and Europe are now in bed with Iran. Israel – like the Jews in pre-war Europe – is expendable. And if Israel is made expendable you can be sure that Jews in the Diaspora will be next. That has been Obama's Plan A all along – installing the Muslim Brotherhood regime in Egypt to cancel the Israel-Egypt Treaty, which failed. So he doubled down on Plan B – knocking out Israel's nuclear hegemony in the Middle East. He is also guaranteeing U.S. help to Iran against any sabotage of its nuclear facilities, i.e., putting Israel into a straight jacket."
"However, this has not all played out," Bockner adds. "Saudi Arabia and Egypt, now two allies of Israel, will shortly get the bomb courtesy of the Russians (who don't care who they sell to). Turkey, Algeria, and others will also be lining up for nukes, and the possibility of these weapons falling into the hands of non-state players will increase. Therefore, the likelihood of a nuclear disaster is now much closer."
Plan A, indeed. There is no measuring the lengths and depths Obama will go to when it comes to defending his indefensible deal. According to Lee Smith at Tablet magazine, "Obama is using a dog-whistle. He's hinting broadly at anti-Semitic conceits – like dual loyalties, moneyed interests, Jewish lobby – to scare off Democrats tempted to vote against the [deal] because they think it's a bad deal. If they do come out against the agreement – if they line up, for instance, with the new organization AIPAC formed, Citizens for a Nuclear Free Iran – to warn the public "about the dangers of the proposed Iran deal," then he's going to tar them as dual loyalists who are willing to send Americans out to make war on behalf of Jewish causes.
According to writer Michael Ledeen, it is the mullahs who did not sign the deal in Vienna. "They don't want to make a deal with the Great American Satan, even though they do want the American concessions, above all the huge sums of money we've promised them. Now comes Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei...talking as if the agreement itself is in question."
Imagine that...Khamenei rejects the deal, but Schumer has to "go through the agreement with a fine-tooth comb"!
You'd think that just as a practical matter, Schumer's choice would be easy. As Ari Lieberman writes in Front Page magazine, "Schumer will be around long after Obama is gone and will have to deal with the mess that will inevitably occur when Iran cheats – and let's be clear, Iran will cheat. From building secretive underground centrifuge facilities at Fordow to illicit procurement activities in Germany, the Islamic Republic's history is replete with a record of cheating and fabrication."
Military historian Victor Davis Hanson warns of the perils of appeasement, be they to countries, an Iran-obsessed resident of the White House and his trusty lapdogs, or a squishy senator.
"While members of the Obama administration are high-fiving each other over a deal with the Iranian theocracy, they should remember unchanging laws that will surely haunt the U.S. later on.
What to do?
A lawsuit by Larry Klayman of Freedom Watch seeks to block Barack Obama's perfidious treaty with Iran from being unconstitutionally ratified. The lawsuit names U.S. Senators Marco Rubio and Bill Nelson and Congressman Patrick Murphy – all of whom voted for a bill that makes it harder for the Senate to reject the Iran deal – and Obama who signed it into law. These representatives acted in disregard of their obligations to uphold the U.S. Constitution.
The lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida is posted at www.FreedomWatchUSA.org. The U.S. Constitution empowers a president to make a treaty only if two-thirds of the U.S. Senate votes to ratify it. A president is delegated no other power in the Constitution to make any other form of international agreement. The agreement, Klayman says, will existentially endanger not only Israel, but Europe and the United States.
In addition to the Times Square rally and protest in front of Sen. Schumer's office, a groundswell of concerned citizens is flooding the White House, urging their elected representatives to vote AGAINST the Iran Nuclear Accord.
Here is the Capitol Hill Switchboard number is: 1-202-224-3121
Here is how to reach Senator Schumer's office: 1-202-224-6542
Here's how to reach Congressman Steve Israel: 1-201-225-3335
Suggestion: Add the above two numbers to your smartphone and make it a point to call them every day until the vote. Takes two minutes!
Call your local Congressperson: www.contactingthecongress.org
Contact your Senators and Representatives: U.S. Senate: Senators of the 114th Congress
Contact your Representatives here: U.S. House of Representatives Directory
Join the following organizations, which have been at the forefront of defending Israel and holding Schumer's feet to the fire:
www.AFSI.org
www.ZOA.org
www.FuelforTruth.org
www.CAMERA.org
I didn't mention Senator Kirsten Gillibrand because, as the NY Post says, she is simply Schumer's "hapless little poodle."
Jeffrey S. Wiesenfeld, a finance expert in New York City who organized and emceed the Times Square rally, said that he recently saw a picture of the gone-missing Gillibrand on a milk carton. He exhorted the crowd to put pressure on Schumer to nix the Iran deal. "Chuck, this is your moment! This is your time to make the decision...or we will throw you the hell out of office!"
I also didn't mention Hillary Clinton, who could not find it within her the other day to counter an anti-Semitic question with a defense of Israel. Except for her first run for the Senate in 2009, when she pandered shamelessly for Jewish votes, she has never been a friend of Jews or Israel, the latest proof being that she endorsed the genocidal Iran deal.
She is like Obama, who has been known to say "I've got Israel's back." How true. Both of them have put a big fat target on Israel's back, this one earmarked for nuclear warheads!
© Joan Swirsky
July 27, 2015
"Schumer is not a Shomer" were the words emblazoned on dozens of placards that were held by some of the 12,000 people who flooded Times Square last week to protest the "Death to America/Death to Israel" deal that Barack Obama and his cronies made on July 14th with – to this day, to this hour – a palpably belligerent, anti-Western, anti-Semitic Iran.The placards – and the demonstration in front of the senator's New York City office the next day – were to implore him to stop evading the subject with mealy-mouthed language ("I'll go through the agreement with a fine-tooth comb") and to reject the deal outright, vote against it in Congress, and convince at least 13 of his colleagues on the left to vote against the horrific deal. Congress is now reviewing the deal and will vote on September 17, in less than 50 days.
In short, to block the Iran deal, 67 Senators need to vote against it. 59 Senators are already committed to doing just that, and 14 are undecided, Sen. Schumer among them.
New York Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn) said that "We have listened to Senator Schumer for years and how he takes every opportunity to explain the origin of his name Schumer and what it means for him to be a proud 'Shomer' – which in Hebrew means protector. Now is the time to live up to your claim and put your words into action."
Last week, The New York Post asked Sen. Schumer 10 key questions about Iran – including if he had any input into the agreement, what he thought of its 24-day advance notice for inspections, and whether the deal raises new concerns for Israel – none of which he has answered to this day!
To Schumer's lame statement that he is "studying the issue," the Post responded: "Studying the issue? Please. There's nothing to study: Just nix the deal, Chuck....Schumer doesn't need to 'study' the deal. He needs to study his conscience."
Personally, I can hardly remember a Sunday-night news broadcast since Schumer was elected to the Senate in 1998 when he wasn't in front of the camera proposing actions to keep his uber-left constituents happy.
He was Chuckie-on-the-spot when it appeared that Adidas might outsource production overseas, in a plant where Schumer said 100 workers were at risk. But for the past three years, as the ayatollahs have menacingly threatened to annihilate Israel, deadly silence from Schumer. One hundred potential injuries more important than over six million deaths!
He was an early and enthusiastic backer of the national disaster known as Obamacare, and is a reliable opponent of guns, an advocate of open borders, and a full-throated supporter of abortion.
When the Planned Parenthood medical ghouls came out last week to reveal their sale of infant body parts (and the exquisite care taken to "crush" the fetus in strategic places, the better to preserve those parts), deadly silence from Schumer. I guess the 1.2 million fetuses destroyed each year in the U.S. are, in Schumer's mind, equal to over six million expendable Israelis, not even worthy of mention.
But I digress. This article is not to discuss the, ahem, value systems of leftists.
Clamming up
In June 2008 – five months before Barack Obama began to occupy the White House – Senator Schumer wrote an op-ed in The Wall St. Journal stating that cooperative economic sanctions from the U.S., Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China could topple Iran's theocratic government.
Clearly, the passage of time and his current position have changed his tune. Today, Schumer is the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate, behind Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid and Senate Minority Whip Dick Durbin. But Schumer has his eyes on a bigger prize, to replace Harry Reid in 2017.
So there you have it. Schumer's dilemma is clear – to be a loyal lackey to Barack Obama, the better not to lose his potential position of power, or to be the New York Jewish Senator he was in the past, a vocal and impassioned supporter of Israel.
For a full three years, Senator Schumer has known about every facet of the Iran deal called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA, being put together by the P5+1 group of the UN (P standing for permanent members the Security Council – the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, and France – plus Germany):
- Schumer knew that when Obama said that the final deal would only lift nuclear-related sanctions on Iran, it was a lie – but he said nothing.
- Schumer knew that when Obama said "U.S. sanctions on Iran for terrorism, human rights abuses, and ballistic missiles will remain in place under the deal," it was a lie – but he said nothing.
Schumer knew that the promise to maintain sanctions on ballistic missile development was a lie – but he said nothing.
- Schumer knew that when Obama said the deal would make it nearly impossible for Iran's Revolutionary Guard, police, intelligence services, and paramilitary groups to do business, it was a lie – but he said nothing.
- Schumer knew that Obama and Co. were keeping two key parts of the deal secret. As spelled out by blogger Jeff Dunetz, the two covert deals would be kept away from other nations, from Congress, and from the American people. They include: (1) the inspection of the Parchin military complex and other Iranian military sites which are off-limits to nuclear inspectors under the agreement, sites long suspected of harboring both long-range ballistic missiles and nuclear weapons; and (2) and Iran's failure to disclose its past nuclear-related military and procurement activities. The national president of the Zionist Organization of America, Morton A. Klein, called the deal disturbing – "The U.S. and other powers having caved on every substantive issue which we were once assured would be included in the eventual agreement, like dismantling centrifuges, shuttering certain nuclear facilities, free and unfettered inspections, disclosure of past nuclear-related military and procurements activities, maintaining non-nuclear sanctions, and so on...." Yep – he said nothing.
- Schumer knew that the deal gave Iran 24 days in advance to allow any inspections of their nuclear facilities, more than ample time to clean them up – but he said nothing.
- Schumer knew that Barack Obama, in order to bypass both the U.S. Congress and the U.S. Constitution he loathes, would send the agreement straight to that repository of socialists, communists, tin pot dictators, and anti-Semites on First Avenue, the United Nations, in order to make their approval "binding" upon all UN members, including the United States – but he said nothing.
- Schumer knew that as a "signing bonus," Iran – already the world's leading state sponsor of Islamic terrorism, which has violated 20 international treaties – is to receive $150-billion dollars in sanctions relief, with which no one doubts they will continue financing terrorist groups like ISIS and Hamas and Hezbollah, destabilizing Sunni Arab regimes, and calling incessantly for the death of all Jews, the annihilation of Israel, and the utter destruction of America – but he said nothing.
- Most egregious, Schumer knew about the most malevolent part of the deal, article 10, which promises to protect the Iran nuclear program from sabotage and attack, removing the last option Israel has to protect herself. The U.S. actually promised to intervene against Israel on Iran's behalf! And Senator Schumer said nothing! Secretary of State John Kerry, the architect of this anti-American deal (surprise, surprise!) conceded to the Senate the other day that the US would defend Iran's nuclear program from Israeli sabotage – but Schumer said nothing.
A time of reckoning
Now is the time of reckoning, writes Jonathan S. Tobin in Commentary magazine online. "For once, Schumer must choose. It is one thing for those whose support for Israel has always been secondary to their left-wing ideology or pro-Obama partisanship (such as the J Street lobby or the National Jewish Democratic Council) to endorse this brazen act of appeasement. For Schumer, a man who has staked his career on being the shomer (guardian) of Israel's security in Congress, it would be a stunning betrayal that he would never live down."
Tobin then poses an ominous warning: "Even if [Schumer] chooses to vote in favor of a resolution that seeks to nullify the pact, he may also work behind the scenes to ensure that at least 34 Democrats back the president so as to ensure that an Obama veto won't be overridden."
Is there any doubt that Schumer – silent for three long years on this doomsday deal – is more than capable of this kind of treachery?
Rabbi Aryeh Spero, known as "America's Rabbi," is the author of Push Back and Why Israel Matters to You" and serves as the president of Caucus for America. Like Tobin, he questions Schumer's seeming paralysis.The Iran deal, he says, "is Plan A for the ultimate annihilation of Israel, annihilation through active offense and by making Israel's defense impossible. To Iran, Mr. Obama has made the most earth-shattering compromises in the annals of history. Even Chamberlain did not provide Hitler with a $150 billion to arm up.
"This whole deal would go nowhere, be dead on arrival, if the most powerful Democrat right now in the Senate would announce it as DOA," Rabbi Spero continues. "That man is Sen. Chuck Schumer. Where is he? No one knows what he will do. Why should we be guessing? He should be out there, at this moment, saying No to this accord. Why should the Israelis have to live another moment in fear and anxiety? Where is his compassion? Schumer should stifle the accord now!"
My friend Howard Bockner from Canada echoes the rabbi's sentiments. "The U.S. and Europe are now in bed with Iran. Israel – like the Jews in pre-war Europe – is expendable. And if Israel is made expendable you can be sure that Jews in the Diaspora will be next. That has been Obama's Plan A all along – installing the Muslim Brotherhood regime in Egypt to cancel the Israel-Egypt Treaty, which failed. So he doubled down on Plan B – knocking out Israel's nuclear hegemony in the Middle East. He is also guaranteeing U.S. help to Iran against any sabotage of its nuclear facilities, i.e., putting Israel into a straight jacket."
"However, this has not all played out," Bockner adds. "Saudi Arabia and Egypt, now two allies of Israel, will shortly get the bomb courtesy of the Russians (who don't care who they sell to). Turkey, Algeria, and others will also be lining up for nukes, and the possibility of these weapons falling into the hands of non-state players will increase. Therefore, the likelihood of a nuclear disaster is now much closer."
Plan A, indeed. There is no measuring the lengths and depths Obama will go to when it comes to defending his indefensible deal. According to Lee Smith at Tablet magazine, "Obama is using a dog-whistle. He's hinting broadly at anti-Semitic conceits – like dual loyalties, moneyed interests, Jewish lobby – to scare off Democrats tempted to vote against the [deal] because they think it's a bad deal. If they do come out against the agreement – if they line up, for instance, with the new organization AIPAC formed, Citizens for a Nuclear Free Iran – to warn the public "about the dangers of the proposed Iran deal," then he's going to tar them as dual loyalists who are willing to send Americans out to make war on behalf of Jewish causes.
According to writer Michael Ledeen, it is the mullahs who did not sign the deal in Vienna. "They don't want to make a deal with the Great American Satan, even though they do want the American concessions, above all the huge sums of money we've promised them. Now comes Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei...talking as if the agreement itself is in question."
Imagine that...Khamenei rejects the deal, but Schumer has to "go through the agreement with a fine-tooth comb"!
You'd think that just as a practical matter, Schumer's choice would be easy. As Ari Lieberman writes in Front Page magazine, "Schumer will be around long after Obama is gone and will have to deal with the mess that will inevitably occur when Iran cheats – and let's be clear, Iran will cheat. From building secretive underground centrifuge facilities at Fordow to illicit procurement activities in Germany, the Islamic Republic's history is replete with a record of cheating and fabrication."
Military historian Victor Davis Hanson warns of the perils of appeasement, be they to countries, an Iran-obsessed resident of the White House and his trusty lapdogs, or a squishy senator.
"While members of the Obama administration are high-fiving each other over a deal with the Iranian theocracy, they should remember unchanging laws that will surely haunt the U.S. later on.
- "First, appeasement always brings short-term jubilation at the expense of long-term security. British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was a beloved peacemaker after the Munich Agreement of 1938 with Adolf Hitler but derided as a conceited fool and naif by May 1940.
- "Second, the appeasement of autocrats always pulls the rug out from under domestic reformers and idealists. After the Western capitulation at Munich, no dissenter in Germany dared to question the ascendant dictatorship of Adolf Hitler.
- "Third, appeasers always wrongly insist that the only alternative to their foolish concessions is war. Just the opposite is true.
- "Fourth, beneficiaries grow to hate their appeasers. We should remember that Hitler called his Munich appeasers 'worms' and pushed them even further.
- "Fifth, allies are always the big losers in appeasement. Britain and France ensured the destruction of third-party Czechoslovakia by conceding to Hitler's demands in 1938 – and doomed Poland in 1939.
What to do?
A lawsuit by Larry Klayman of Freedom Watch seeks to block Barack Obama's perfidious treaty with Iran from being unconstitutionally ratified. The lawsuit names U.S. Senators Marco Rubio and Bill Nelson and Congressman Patrick Murphy – all of whom voted for a bill that makes it harder for the Senate to reject the Iran deal – and Obama who signed it into law. These representatives acted in disregard of their obligations to uphold the U.S. Constitution.The lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida is posted at www.FreedomWatchUSA.org. The U.S. Constitution empowers a president to make a treaty only if two-thirds of the U.S. Senate votes to ratify it. A president is delegated no other power in the Constitution to make any other form of international agreement. The agreement, Klayman says, will existentially endanger not only Israel, but Europe and the United States.
In addition to the Times Square rally and protest in front of Sen. Schumer's office, a groundswell of concerned citizens is flooding the White House, urging their elected representatives to vote AGAINST the Iran Nuclear Accord.
Here is the Capitol Hill Switchboard number is: 1-202-224-3121
Here is how to reach Senator Schumer's office: 1-202-224-6542
Here's how to reach Congressman Steve Israel: 1-201-225-3335
Suggestion: Add the above two numbers to your smartphone and make it a point to call them every day until the vote. Takes two minutes!
Call your local Congressperson: www.contactingthecongress.org
Contact your Senators and Representatives: U.S. Senate: Senators of the 114th Congress
Contact your Representatives here: U.S. House of Representatives Directory
Join the following organizations, which have been at the forefront of defending Israel and holding Schumer's feet to the fire:
www.AFSI.org
www.ZOA.org
www.FuelforTruth.org
www.CAMERA.org
I didn't mention Senator Kirsten Gillibrand because, as the NY Post says, she is simply Schumer's "hapless little poodle."
Jeffrey S. Wiesenfeld, a finance expert in New York City who organized and emceed the Times Square rally, said that he recently saw a picture of the gone-missing Gillibrand on a milk carton. He exhorted the crowd to put pressure on Schumer to nix the Iran deal. "Chuck, this is your moment! This is your time to make the decision...or we will throw you the hell out of office!"
I also didn't mention Hillary Clinton, who could not find it within her the other day to counter an anti-Semitic question with a defense of Israel. Except for her first run for the Senate in 2009, when she pandered shamelessly for Jewish votes, she has never been a friend of Jews or Israel, the latest proof being that she endorsed the genocidal Iran deal.
She is like Obama, who has been known to say "I've got Israel's back." How true. Both of them have put a big fat target on Israel's back, this one earmarked for nuclear warheads!
© Joan Swirsky
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
(See RenewAmerica's publishing standards.)