US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) signaled a change in tone towards Israel on Thursday, suggesting the Biden administration is prepared to challenge the country’s longtime Prime Minister who it sees as a major political liability.
“The fourth major obstacle to peace is Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has all too frequently bowed to the demands of extremists like ministers [Bezalel] Smotrich and [Itamar] Ben-Gvir and the settlers in the West Bank,” said Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in the United States.
“If Prime Minister Netanyahu's current coalition remains in power after the war begins to wind down and continues to pursue dangerous and inflammatory policies that test existing US standards for assistance, 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,” he added.
The uncharacteristically blunt message demonstrates the White House is willing to wade into the domestic politics of an ally it provides with billions of dollars of aid per year, said Michael Maloof, a former senior security policy analyst in the US Office of the Secretary of Defense. The author weighed in on Schumer’s comments on Friday on Sputnik’s Fault Lines program.
“I think it's a sign that policy is definitely changing not only for this administration, but also of the flavor of dislike of what is going on over there in the United States Congress,” said Maloof, who served in the US Department of Defense for almost 30 years. “If Schumer comes out – being Jewish, as he says, and a major supporter of Israel – if he's laying that gauntlet down, I think that is a signal.”
Maloof also noted the significance of Biden’s recent White House meeting with Israeli politician Benny Gantz. Although Gantz is currently a member of Netanyahu’s emergency war cabinet, the retired army general has challenged the Prime Minister’s Likud Party in previous elections and is seen as a likely political opponent the next time Israelis go to the polls.
“That was a signal, the fact that the administration would allow that, and it was a total disregard of what Netanyahu wanted,” said the retired defense department analyst. “I think that that's a very serious signal as well… the fact that this administration accepted Gantz was a further signal of, and an indication of concerns about policy direction.”
However, Maloof speculated that the primary difference between Gantz and Netanyahu is one of tone. Observers believe Gantz would pursue a similarly bellicose policy with regard to Palestinians in Gaza and Hezbollah fighters in Lebanon. But Gantz would engage more cooperatively with the Biden administration, Maloof believes – a crucial concern as the US president bleeds support from younger voters and Arab Americans while campaigning for reelection this fall.
“They want someone who – he's probably not all that much different – but a little more moderate in tone and isn't so hateful toward the Palestinians, it seems, as Netanyahu,” he said, noting that American voters are “disturbed” by the “ethnic cleansing” occurring in the besieged Gaza Strip. Over 30,000 Palestinians have been killed amidst Israel’s military operation in Gaza, with some 70% estimated to be women and children.
Human rights groups have warned of widespread famine in the enclave as reports emerge of young children dying of starvation as Israel enforces a tight blockade.
“The Biden administration seems to be at a crossroads,” noted Maloof, although he said the US president would need to be willing to consider withholding military aid to Israel to succeed in changing the country’s policy.
“If he [Schumer] can be successful in cutting off the funding, that's going to be the key from the congressional standpoint, [and] then the administration doesn't have to take the hit for it,” he said. “But something's got to be done and, as we approach the elections even closer, I think that's why you're seeing Schumer speaking out now.”
“We see overkill in a dramatic way, in the way that they have absolutely leveled and carpet-bombed Gaza,” concluded the analyst.