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Time For Regime Change in…Israel – HotAir

March 14, 2024
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'Israel Will Not Give In to Hamas' Delusional Demands' – HotAir

The Democrats have always hated Bibi Netanyahu and with good reason. He has helped lead the charge toward a modernized Israel. 

Netanyahu is hardly a saint. He has made coalitions with religious extremists in order to maintain power, although given Israel’s fractured parliamentary system, it is practically impossible for any government to be formed, Left or Right, without allying with fringe elements in Israeli society. Of the world’s democracies, Israel has one of the most poorly designed governing systems in the world. Its courts are overpowered and have almost unlimited power unconstrained by constitutional limits and its electoral system encourages the fracturing of political power among far too many groups.

Israel is a case study of a poorly designed political system. 

Going back to the Clinton administration, Democrats have worked assiduously to get rid of Netanyahu. Clinton famously (and admitted to doing so) interfered in the Israeli elections in order to install Shimon Peres in the 1996 elections–Netanyahu won anyway–and Obama absolutely reviled Netanyahu, although it must be admitted that Obama reviled Israel as well.

 Democrats used to love Israel, back when it was a relatively weak and socialist state. You can date the disenchantment with Israel among lefties to the time when Israelis began leaving kibbutzes and started building a modern technological society that now leads the world in many areas. 

Since October 7th, the Democrats have been in a bind; liberal Jews make up a small but politically and financially powerful part of their electoral base, and powerful politicians like Chuck Schumer have been longtime supporters of Israel, if not its drift to the right. 

The majority of the Democrat base, though, has turned on Israel with a vengeance; some, admittedly, because they sincerely dissent from Israel’s war policies and the controversies in the West Bank, and many because they simply hate Jews and Israel. 

Chuck Schumer has bowed to pressure from the Biden administration and the Left to abandon the wartime coalition government of Israel–a coalition of both left and right Israelis united to defeat Hamas despite huge political differences–and is calling for a regime change in Israel. 

Democrats have felt increasing pressure from their left to deal with the humanitarian crisis in Gaza and be tougher on Israel, while also standing with a key ally.

  • Schumer had largely stayed away from criticizing the Israeli government and Netanyahu in recent months.
  • His remarks come as President Biden and other Democrats are wary of alienating progressive voters who are concerned about Israel’s attacks that have killed tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza.

Driving the news: Schumer said in prepared remarks that new elections are the “only way to allow for a healthy and open decision-making process about the future of Israel.”

  • Schumer criticized Netanyahu for aligning himself with far-right extremists in the Israeli government, saying he has turned away from a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians. Biden supports such a plan.
  • “Nobody expects Prime Minister Netanyahu to do the things that must be done to break the cycle of violence, preserve Israel’s credibility on the world stage, and work toward a two-state solution,” Schumer said.


His ostensible reason is that Israel has been losing political support outside its borders, which is indisputably true. But it is also indisputably true, at least partly because many in the Western transnational elite are quaking in their boots, bowing to pressure from extremist groups in their now “diverse” constituencies. Ordinary Westerners still largely support Israel’s quest to destroy Hamas despite massive propaganda efforts to undermine the Jewish state. Support for Israel is down, largely due to a massive campaign on the Left, but still hovers around 60% in the United States. 

Ed hit the nail on the head in his analysis provided by the headline he put up:

If Israeli government officials publicly endorsed Donald Trump, Schumer would be among the first American officials to denounce them for “election interference.” Mitch McConnell made this very point in his speech immediately following Schumer’s. It’s the height of arrogance, as well as the height of stupidity, because there isn’t a PM candidate in Israel at the moment who would either back down from the war or accept a two-state commitment when Hamas demands the destruction of Israel. 

The Israeli government was…not pleased by Schumer’s intervention in Israeli politics, and gently reminded its ally that Israel is a sovereign country. 

Even Bibi’s political enemy–whom Bibi defeated to become Prime Minister, was not amused in the least. 

Bibi is unlikely to survive the next election in any case, so any statements or pressure from US politicians is about their saving their butts in domestic politics. If it takes intervening in Israel’s elections, they are fine with that. It’s OK if Democrats do it. 

Support for Netanyahu in Israel is way down, but not because of his and the coalition government’s conduct in the war. It was Netanyahu’s failure to protect Israel–his major strength before 10/7–that caused his popularity to plummet. It is unlikely that any new government will change policies soon. 

The big problem the Democrats have is that their electoral prospects are entirely dependent on the enthusiasm of their Leftist supporters. That is why they haven’t pushed back against the propaganda (save heroes like…gulp…Fetterman. A sustained pushback by politicians on the lies told by the Hamas propagandists would not save Israel’s image, but it certainly would make a substantial difference. 

Mitch McConnell hits the right notes in his response to Schumer:

Right now, Hamas is winning the propaganda war, and the transnational elite is partly responsible. If Democrats had the courage to call out Hamas propaganda and propagandists, it would soften the blows, at least. 

That can’t happen, though, because the 2024 elections are close, and their Left is up in arms. DEI is now part of the ideological foundation of the Democrat ideology, and even Schumer, with all his institutional power, has to bow to what he sees as inevitable. 

This means the Democrats have chosen sides–they are financially supporting Iran, and hence Hamas, and pressuring Israel to slowly commit national suicide. Hamas just released a speech from its leader encouraging further protests to put Biden in a bind. Even Hamas knows this strategy is working on the Democrats.

For the likes of Schumer, at least, it is nothing personal. He likes Israel fine if not its current leaders. It’s just that he has elections to worry about, including a presidential one that looks pretty shaky right now. 

Even Democrats who support Israel won’t punish them for following Schumer’s strategy. He will loudly proclaim his support for Israel, while putting all the onus on Netanyahu for the loss of his support. Liberal Democrats hate Netanyahu, too, so this is a smart political strategy. 

It is just immoral as hell because leaving Hamas in power is a guarantee for more dead Jews. 

For the radical Left, more dead Jews is like winning the jackpot. For people like Schumer it is merely an unfortunate reality which he must accept, lest he and the Democrats lose power. 

As is always the case with politicians, save for a few, losing power is the ultimate disaster, and a few dead people is a small price to pay if it means they can continue to exercise power and collect the pay and perks of office. 

Democrats are panicking, and they have a right to do so, given the electoral dynamics. There is no guarantee that there will be a Red wave–one would be unlikely in Congress, which looks to remain closely divided. However, holding the presidency gives them enormous executive power, and Biden has shown that the constitutional limits of his office are no barrier to doing what he wants. He ignores the law, and it seems to work. 

Israel will be considered collateral damage, and they will move on. 



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