The US must display unwavering support for Israel - opinion

Having just returned from Israel and another very successful Israel Allies Foundation conference, I was very disappointed to hear the comments from US Senator Chuck Schumer. He called for new elections in Israel now, in the middle of a war. And for what reason? Apparently, it was to resuscitate the “two-state solution” as part of the “peace process.”

Does Schumer not know that 20 years ago, under US pressure, Israel agreed to forcibly remove some 8,500 Israeli Jews from Gaza and turn it over to the Palestinians for self-rule? What did Israel achieve with this “two-state solution” experiment? It got an empowered Hamas – and a steady stream of rocket attacks, forcing the building of the Iron Dome – leading to the horrors of October 7.

Shockingly, these comments came from a man who once said on CNN, in the context of a supposed Russian interference in a US election, “If people think that a foreign country helped determine our election and lose faith in our democracy, that’s the beginning of the end of this great experiment in democracy…”

So, Russians can’t interfere in US elections but an American in Washington, Chuck Schumer, can call for new elections in Israel? This will bring peace and security to the people in the region?

My recommendation to members of the Knesset and the Israeli people is to call out Schumer’s remarks as meshugas (Yiddish for “nonsense”). In the past, I have known him and debated him, and in my opinion, he always puts his progressive liberalism first, uninterested in what is genuinely best for the relevant country or its people. 

At the height of World War II, when the US was bombing cities in Japan and Germany, how well would it have been received in America if a world leader had called for America to cease and desist and instead pursue a negotiated settlement or ask for a change in president? 

President Harry Truman pushed on, we continued the bombings, and the US won, but not because we wanted to kill German and Japanese innocent civilians. Truman pushed on because he wanted to bring the war to a conclusion and spare the ongoing toll of human life. One of those lives I believed Truman spared was my father’s, who was training to be part of the first wave to invade Japan. He also spared hundreds of thousands of innocent Japanese civilians who would most certainly have also perished in a protracted US ground invasion.

Chuck Schumer, Joe Biden, and George Soros are all believers in the “two-state solution.” They need to be reminded that we tried it in Gaza, and we received Hamas as a result. The Israelis were willing to give peace a chance, and what they got in return was an armed camp right on their border and 1,200 innocent people murdered.

Schumer’s sentiments remind me of an expression I learned from one of my mentors, former Republican majority leader Dick Armey when I served in the US House. He would say, “Conservatives believe it when they see it, liberals see it when they believe it.”  

Schumer would be well-served to spend a few minutes on the Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) website and get educated about the Palestinians. They never have and likely never will be open to a two-state solution and living peacefully alongside Israel. 

Their idea of “land for peace” is removing every Jew from the land. Mr. Schumer, when they say, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” they mean free of Jews, not establishing freedom of speech or freedom of religion as exists in Israel.

Visiting Israel post-October 7 was a life-changing experience

For me, there were many painful moments during our recent conference. We had the opportunity to visit a kibbutz near Gaza that had been overrun on October 7. Hundreds of Israelis were killed and others taken captive. We met the mother of a young man who is currently being held hostage. We could see the pain in her eyes. 

One of the most memorable and unusual sights occurred while my wife and I were eating dinner in the hotel restaurant in Jerusalem. A young father came in with his wife and three small children for dinner. He had a semiautomatic rifle over his shoulder. It seems that Israel has realized that if more of its citizens carry weapons, lives could be saved, especially if there were to be another attack like the Hamas leaders are currently promising to do. That young father was there with his gun to protect his children, his wife, and himself – not because he wanted to kill Palestinians.

I began to think about his Palestinian counterpart, maybe with three small children in a tunnel somewhere under Gaza, maybe with a weapon over his shoulder. The Palestinian in the tunnel has his weapon not to protect himself and his family. He has it so he can kill Jews. He knows that his wife and children could die in this conflict, but he has been taught to believe that their death – and even his own – is an honor if it helps rid the land of the Jewish people.

The difference is stark and simple. The young Israeli had been brought up to believe that human life is sacred and needs to be protected and defended. He would never use women and children as human shields.

The young Palestinian has been raised to believe that Jews are not humans and that killing men, women, and children is a virtuous thing worth sacrificing not only his life but his whole family and community. One is love, the other is depravity.

This is a pivotal moment for the Jewish people, Israel, and its government. The best and only way to bring peace and security to all the people in the region is to destroy Hamas, establish control over Gaza, and shut down the evil schools that teach Palestinian children to kill and hate.

Israel also needs to ignore Schumer, Biden, Soros and all of their confused followers who think that turning over control of eastern Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria (the so-called “West Bank”) to the Palestinian Authority (PA) will somehow bring peace to the land.  

Only when the PA stops teaching their children to kill and hate in the UNRWA-run schools, stops paying terrorists who kill innocent Israeli citizens, and officially accepts the right of Israel to exist, will we possibly begin to have peace.  

The writer is a former member of the US House of Representatives and founder of the Congressional Israel Allies Caucus. He currently chairs the board of directors of the Israel Allies Foundation.