Ed Koch Criticizes Chuck Schumer’s Silence on Obama’s Snub to Netanyahu

Ed Koch is on fire. Here are a few of the bombshells he dropped yesterday.

President Obama “wants to make Israel a pariah state.”

Hillary Clinton is a “disappointment” and didn’t deserve the standing ovation she got from a leading Jewish group.

Sen. Chuck Schumer has been silent on America’s tilt toward the Palestinians because he is “afraid of Obama.”

Anything else? Only that Clinton won’t answer his letters when he asks directly whether the United States is prepared to defend Israel from Iran.

And Obama isn’t neutral in the Mideast. He’s pro-Arab.

As I said, bombshells.

I called the former mayor after reading a fascinating column he wrote for RealClearPolitics.com. He accused Obama of “humiliating” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington, and said it is “unimaginable that the president would treat any of our NATO allies, large or small, in such a degrading fashion.”

Koch also said Obama, by putting pressure only on Israel, was ignoring efforts by Israeli governments to make a two-state deal with Palestinians.

“Each Israeli concession has been met with even greater demands, no reciprocity and frequently horrific violence directed at Israeli civilians,” he wrote.

Koch is absolutely right. Obama and Clinton intentionally treated Netanyahu like dirt, then made sure the world knew.

It wasn’t just bad manners. It was flashing a green light for Israel’s enemies.

By broadcasting his wavering support, Obama made it more likely there will be a new war. He also undermines efforts to get Iran to stop its nuclear program and makes it more likely Israel will undertake military action.

Yet Koch didn’t just criticize American policy. He went after Schumer and his rubberstamp, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, among others, for not standing up to the president. He elaborated during my call.

“It’s their silence,” Koch said to me yesterday. “I can’t figure out where they are. Take Anthony Weiner. You’d think he’d be jumping up and down. But there’s nothing.”

He said he’s gotten hundreds of responses to the column, with the vast majority sharing his shock at Obama’s “dangerous” policies. He mentioned growing concern that the US will abandon Israel at the United Nations by abstaining from Security Council condemnations, instead of issuing its usual veto.

“At the UN, it’s always been up to the United States,” he said. “Great Britain, France, the whole European Union, they’re afraid of the Arabs because of oil contracts. They don’t have the courage to support Israel.”

Clearly, he struck a nerve. After I called Schumer’s office to get a response to Koch’s criticism, Koch and I both got unsolicited calls from a major supporter of Israel who defended Schumer for working behind the scenes. This New Yorker, who asked not to be identified, said Schumer was “indispensable” in trying to head off the American-Israel confrontation.

Koch, in a second conversation, said he also got a call from Schumer and accepted his explanation that he could get more done by working quietly. “But where is everybody else in Congress?” Koch asked. “Are they all working behind the scenes?”

The answer is no. They’re content to stand mute while a president who is from their party reverses 50 years of American policy and endangers the one democracy in the region.

It is odd but true: The fact that most Jews in Congress are Democrats is proving to be a liability to Israel.

Silence is not a virtue. There is an obvious split in the administration, with Obama and Clinton the pro-Arab hawks, and Vice President Joe Biden and adviser Dennis Ross advocating a more Israel-friendly policy.

The time to influence the outcome is now, with reasoned arguments — in public. That’s how critics would challenge a Republican president making the same mistake.

Later, Schumer’s office issued a one-sentence statement in response to my request. It signals he will go public if his private efforts fail to change Obama’s policy:

“If the administration continues along this line, everyone in the New York delegation will have no choice but to speak out.”

Remember that promise. Koch certainly will.