Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-NY) ripped the political Left in a speech from the Senate floor on Wednesday over its overt anti-Semitism in the days following Hamas’ October 7 terrorist attack against Israel.
Schumer, who is Jewish, said as the highest ranking elected Jew in U.S. history, he felt compelled to speak out about what is happening and about anti-Semitism that Jews have experienced worldwide throughout history.
After taking a brief shot at former President Donald Trump in the opening moments of his remarks, Schumer quickly called out the woke Left as being the primary culprit of anti-Semitism as he highlighted statistics showing how anti-Semitic incidents have erupted in recent weeks.
“The solidarity that Jewish Americans initially received from many of our fellow citizens was quickly drowned out by other voices,” he said. “While the dead bodies of Jewish Israelis were still warm, while hundreds of Jewish Israelis were being carried as hostages back to Hamas tunnels under Gaza, Jewish Americans were alarmed to see some of our fellow citizens characterize a brutal terrorist attack as justified because of the actions of the Israeli government.”
“A vicious, bloodcurdling, premeditated massacre of innocent men, women, children, the elderly — justified!” he continued. “Even worse, in some cases, people even celebrated what happened, describing it as the deserved fate of quote ‘colonizers’ and calling for quote ‘glory to the martyrs’ who carried out these heinous attacks.”
Schumer said that those anti-Semitic statements largely were not coming from the far-Right, but from “people that most liberal Jewish Americans felt previously were their ideological fellow travelers.”
“Not long ago, many of us marched together for black and brown lives, we stood against anti-Asian hatred, we protested bigotry against the LGBTQ community, we fought for reproductive justice out of the recognition that injustice against one oppressed group is injustice against all,” he said. “But apparently, in the eyes of some, that principle does not extend to the Jewish people.”
Schumer spoke at length about the hatred that Jews have faced throughout history and about his family’s history facing persecution before addressing specific examples of what is alarming Jews across the country.
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“When Jewish people hear chants like ‘From the river to the sea,’ a founding slogan of Hamas, a terrorist group that is not shy about their goal to eradicate the Jewish people, in Israel and around the globe, we are alarmed,” he said. “When we see signs in the crowd that read ‘By Any Means Necessary,’ after the most violent attack ever against Israeli civilians, we are appalled at the casual invocation of such savagery.”
“When we see protesters at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade compare the genocide of the Holocaust equivalently to the Israeli army’s actions to defeat Hamas in self-defense of their people, we are shocked,” he continued. “And when we see many people and news organizations remain neutral about the basic absurdity of these claims and actions, we are deeply disappointed.”
Schumer continued by labeling specific incidents as anti-Semitic:
After October 7th, when boycotts were organized against Jewish businesses in Philadelphia that have nothing to do with Israel — that is anti-Semitism!
After October 7th, when swastikas appeared on Jewish delis on the Upper East Side — that is anti-Semitism!
After October 7th, when protesters in California shouted at Jewish Americans, “Hitler should’ve smashed you!” — that is anti-Semitism!
After October 7th, when a Jewish U.S. Senator was violently threatened for her views on Israel — that is anti-Semitism!
After October 7th, when students on college campuses across the country who wear a yarmulke or display a Jewish star are harassed, verbally vilified, pushed, and even spat upon and punched — that is anti-Semitism!
After October 7th, when an author in a prominent left-wing magazine labeled the pro-Israel rally in Washington a “hate rally” — that is anti-Semitism! I attended the rally because I believe there should be a place of refuge for the Jewish people. Not because I wish violence on Palestinians, or any other people.
And after October 7th, when students at Hillcrest High School in Queens ran rampant in the hallways and demanded the firing of a teacher just because attended a rally supporting Israel, and forced her to hide in a locked office for hours while staff struggled to regain control — that is anti-Semitism!
Walking out of school to march in support of Palestinians is completely legitimate. But forcing a Jewish teacher to remain — as she described — locked in an office because she attended a rally in support for Israel is anti-Semitism, pure and simple.
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