Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
Israeli media: Person behind shooting operation at Allenby Crossing is a Jordanian Army soldier.
Israeli media citing Emergency Services: Both wounded in Allenby shooting operation now dead.
Israeli media: One soldier wounded at Allenby crossing now confirmed killed.
Israeli media: Preliminary reports of shooting operation at Allenby crossing with Jordan.
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: Two were martyred in an initial toll of the Israeli drone strike that targeted the al-Asira neighborhood in the city of Baalbek, eastern Lebanon
Al Mayadeen's correspondent: An Israeli drone strike targeted the al-Asira neighborhood east of Baalbek, eastern Lebanon
Sheikh Naim Qassem to the pager attack survivors: You are the greatest resistance. Know that 'Israel' will fall because it embodies aggression, crime, and occupation; victory is truly yours
Sheikh Qassem to the pager attack survivors: The value of what you are doing despite your wounds is immense, and here you are, treading the path of the Master of Nation's Martyrs and the leaders
Sheikh Qassem to the pager attack survivors: You are moving forward with insight deeper than sight itself. The enemy sought to eliminate your role in the battle, yet you remain steadfast and continue the fight
Hezbollah Secretary-General Sheikh Naim Qassem to the pager attack survivors one year later: You are healing from your wounds and rising above them. You have successfully passed the test

Is the US divorcing Netanyahu? Or is it Democratic ‘cope’ for their errors in Gaza?

  • Alastair Crooke Alastair Crooke
  • Source: Al Mayadeen English
  • 20 Mar 2024 00:43
  • 15 Shares
5 Min Read

Schumer’s speech was less a bombshell in "Israel" than in the US as the paths of the Likud and Western Liberalism had long diverged.

  • x
  • Is the US divorcing Netanyahu?  Or is it Democratic ‘cope’ for their errors on Gaza?
    Is it a divorce between the US and Netanyahu's "Israel"? (Illustrated by 

Senator Schumer (who represents a state with more than 20% of the US Jewish population) delivered last week a pointed speech on the Senate floor excoriating Netanyahu as a major obstacle to peace in the Middle East and calling for new leadership in "Israel".  Schumer was unsparing in his criticism: “The Netanyahu coalition no longer fits the needs of Israel after 7 Oct” … “The world has changed — radically — since then, and the Israeli people are being stifled right now by a governing vision that is stuck in the past."

The address was widely circulated to the White House and Jewish donors and interest groups (including reportedly AIPAC) before delivery. 

The speech, therefore, was read from an agreed text and intended to signal a major shift in the US stance. It was "sold" in mainstream US media as landing a "bombshell" onto "Israel", warning that it risked "losing" the US (and much of the world).

However, was it truly a divorce "decree nisi" between the US and Netanyahu?

Undoubtedly, many, if not most, reform and liberal Jews in NY and beyond, would agree wholeheartedly with Schumer’s stance. Taken together, they represent a core Democratic constituency.

But, if Schumer’s words constituted a statement of intended divorce, the reality is that "the couple" has been estranged and leading separate lives, for many years.

Years back, Netanyahu saw the writing on the wall as the Democrats in the US turned increasingly woke, just at the point at which Netanyahu, the Likud, and the Israeli polity were marching rightward toward fundamentalist Zionism.  

The woke ethos of seeking redress (positive discrimination) for historic identity and racial discrimination and the demand for restitutive social justice clearly were at odds and a threat to the Zionist world of special rights for one population group (Jews) over another (Palestinians) sharing the same land. 

Liberal democrats and radical Zionism were pursuing divergent paths.

Related News

Washington based think tanks advocate war on Lebanon

US losing India to China-Russia bloc, as SCO summit rang alarm bells

The answer for the Likud Party seemed to be a pivot to the Evangelical constituency in the US -- and since most were Republican, a shift too to the GOP as the main patron. (In 2007, 51% of Protestants in the US identified with evangelical churches.)

It was seen as a bold and controversial move by the Israeli Right at the time. But from the Likud perspective, it started to pay off -- as in the case of the fraught move of the US Embassy to al-Quds. The Democrats were not the patrons here; it was the Evangelicals (for Christian Biblical motives).

In this light, Schumer’s speech was less a bombshell in "Israel" than in the US. The paths of Likud and Western Liberalism had long diverged. What Schumer was proclaiming was the divorce of US liberals from "Israel" as it is today, (and not the imagined, rosy-tinted world of two decades earlier).  

The horrors of the Gaza war have exposed that "liberal Zionism" is now an oxymoron.  

It is also exposing the impotence of the secular-liberal approach to a problem (in the talk of security reform of the PA, two-state solutions, Saudi embrace/normalization... etc.) that is becoming evermore eschatological; driven by fear; hatred, and Biblical injunctions to kill as mandatory command under Halachic Law. There is a psychological block in the West to admitting that Biblical compulsions can override "rationality".

Of course, the unsaid element to the Schumer address is that the Democratic Campaign managers were spooked in Michigan by the size of the "uncommitted" protest vote against Biden’s support for Israel’s war aims. 

Netanyahu, it seems, is to be the scapegoat for the entirety of "Israel", which -- right or wrong -- overwhelmingly supports the Cabinet war aims in Gaza and Lebanon. Schumer’s finger-pointing effectively absolves Biden of his initial error in embracing Netanyahu and declaring that the US "has Israel’s back". As one analyst noted: 

“Biden knows that Netanyahu is representing a mainstream position on the war and that the president is mostly bluffing for domestic benefit. “Biden has a game he’s playing, and that is criticism of Bibi … It reduces some of the flames."" 

Additionally, Schumer’s speech intentionally absolves the "liberal" West for having colluded, over two decades, in "Israel’s" deliberate blocking of any prospect for a Palestinian State coming into being, and it avoids the issue of why the Biden Administration goes on sending bombs and munitions to the Israeli military.

Netanyahu may have played a central part in the recent transformation of "Israel", but this is not all his Netanyahu. These dynamics were perfectly visible during the Ariel Sharon era, too.

Interestingly, even Senator McConnell picked up on these points, “The Democratic Party doesn’t have an anti-Bibi problem:  It has an anti-Israel problem." However, as usual, the insight is clouded by party politics: McConnell espies the opportunity for the GOP to seize "the card" of Israel from the Democrats!

The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect Al Mayadeen’s editorial stance.
  • United States
  • Gaza Strip
  • Israeli Prime Minister
  • netanyahu
  • Chuck Schumer
  • war on Gaza
  • Israeli aggression
  • Israel
  • US
  • Gaza genocide
  • US President Joe Biden
  • Benjamin Netanyahu
  • Israeli occupation
  • Gaza
  • Joe Biden
War on Gaza

War on Gaza

Alastair Crooke

Alastair Crooke

Director of Conflicts Forum; Former Senior British Diplomat; Author.

Most Read

All
Why is Choose Love using a firm with British and US intelligence connections to run a pro-Palestine musical event? (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Batoul Chamas)

Together for Palestine: Troubling questions about the organisers of this huge event

  • Opinion
  • 17 Sep 2025
UKLFI’s latest faux pas, like "Israel’s" recent failed attempt at regime change in Iran, is unambiguously indicative of a flailing entity on the verge of extinction. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Zeinab el-Hajj)

Zionist lawfare operation facing collapse?

  • Opinion
  • 13 Sep 2025
In the immediate aftermath of Parubiy’s slaying, claims emerged he had months earlier requested formal protection from the SBU, only to be rebuffed. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Batoul Chamas)

The Ukrainian neo-Nazi who knew too much?

  • Opinion
  • 5 Sep 2025
The West Bank is on the verge of catastrophe

The West Bank is on the verge of catastrophe

  • Opinion
  • 9 Sep 2025

Coverage

All
War on Iran

More from this writer

All
The Nakedness of EU ‘Geo-political’ Ambitions Will Be Revealed - As the Ukraine War Melts Away

The Nakedness of EU ‘Geo-political’ Ambitions Will Be Revealed - As the Ukraine War Melts Away

The Slow-Motion Advance to the Edge of the Abyss

The Slow-Motion Advance to the Edge of the Abyss

Already, "Israel" has the White House committed to support an Israeli military operation against Hezbollah. (Al Mayadeen English; Illustrated by Zeinab El-Hajj)

Does 'Israel' want war?

The European Mutiny: The Consequences are Just Beginning

The European Mutiny: The Consequences are Just Beginning

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS