As Democrats we love to (rightfully) look down our noses at the religious nuts and bigots in the Republican party, but can we really do so with Chuck Schumer soon to be one of the top three leaders in our party?
Now most Jews in America (like myself) are progressive and anything but religious extremists. But there are some dinosaurs like Sheldon Adelson and Chuck Schumer who buck the majority.
In fact, Schumer's respect for any Israeli leader no matter how much of an extremist like Netanyahu derives from that religious extremism.
"You know, my name .... comes from the word shomer, guardian, watcher. My ancestors were guardians of the ghetto wall in Chortkov. And I believe Hashem actually gave me that name. One of my roles, very important in the United States senate, is to be a shomer — to be a or the shomer Yisrael. And I will continue to be that with every bone in my body ... "
Religious nuts like Schumer who litterally believe they were sent on a mission from god scares the shit out of me. We have seen where that can go wrong.
And like all extremists he is bigoted towards religions and people he views as the enemy. I am of course referring to Palestinians who are subjected to the apartheid system of his favorite country: Israel.
This was never more apparent than his speech before the Orthodox Union a few years ago:
During one point of his speech, Schumer turned his attention to the situation in Gaza. He told the audience that the "Palestinian people still don't believe in the Jewish state, in a two-state solution," and also that "they don't believe in the Torah, in David." He went on to say "you have to force them to say Israel is here to stay."
The most WTF part of that quote is somehow not believing and the Torah (Jewish religious scripture) makes you less of a person. Then he goes on to show his callousness for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza:
New York's senior senator explained that the current Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip -- which is causing a humanitarian crisis there -- is not only justified because it keeps weapons out of the Palestinian territory, but also because it shows the Palestinians living there that "when there's some moderation and cooperation, they can have an economic advancement." Summing up his feelings, Schumer emphasized the need to "to strangle them economically until they see that's not the way to go, makes sense"
First of all, the blockade and
indiscriminate slaughter of
Palestinian children in Gaza have if anything made Hamas MORE popular. Secondly, the idea that collectively forcing innocent civilians to suffer in such a way is appropriate under any circumstances is disgusting.
And in a separate speech he says he sees Palestinians as a threat:
“But there is only one threat, because every time the Arab world — the Palestinians — have risen against us, we have risen to defeat them.
But like I said earlier. He is a dinosaur.
Jews like me are the future.