Does Schumer worry that his party is tilting in an anti-Israel direction — one that will, at its edges, also tilt into antisemitism? “My caucus is overwhelmingly pro-Israel,” he insisted to me, noting that when the Senate last year voted for “the largest package of aid to Israel ever, I only lost three Democrats,” including Bernie Sanders, an independent who caucuses with the Democrats.
But he also warned that “the greatest danger to Israel, long-term, is if you lose half of America” — the liberal half. On one of Netanyahu’s previous visits to the United States, Schumer told me he urged the prime minister to “go on Rachel Maddow and not just Sean Hannity.” Netanyahu ignored the advice, and Schumer, in a Senate speech, later called for new elections to replace him, for which he remains “fiercely proud.” It showed Democrats, he said, that it’s possible to oppose Netanyahu while championing the Jewish state.
“My job,” he told me, “is to keep the left pro-Israel.”
Being anti-Israel is not the same as being an anitsemite. You can disagree with Israel current genocide of the Palestinian people without being against Jewish people for being Jewish. It just so happens that most people in Israel are Jewish, but that is not the reason people hate Israel. The reasons people hate Israel are plenty: killing innocent civilians indiscriminately (women and children included), using civilians as human shields, bombing hospitals, preventing aid from reaching Palestinians which caused people to die, kicking people out of their houses and illegally annexing territory, etc.
In short, you can be anti-Israel, and love Jewish people. Heck, many Jewish people are anti-Israel because of this recent massacre.