Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and proud supporter of Zionism promised on Friday that the United States Senate would do all it can to give Israel its “fullest support” during a wreath-laying ceremony at Yad Vashem, Israel’s official Holocaust memorial site and museum.
“As Senate Majority Leader, the highest ranking Jewish American elected official in history, I stand here today in the shadow of my ancestors who perished in the Holocaust to promise that as long as Hashem [a Hebrew term for God] breathes air into my lungs, the United States Senate will stand behind Israel with our fullest support,” Brooklyn-born Chuck Schumer said on Friday, just ahead of the Sabbath.
“As Senate Majority Leader,highest ranking Jewish American elected official in history I stand here in the shadow of my ancestors who perished in the Holocaust to promise as long as Hashem breathes air to my lungs the US Senate will stand behind Israel w/fullest support”C,Schumer pic.twitter.com/ntc4SyxoXc
— Rita Rosenfeld (@rheytah) February 25, 2023
Schumer has been busy leading a delegation of seven other Senators on an international tour that also included official visits to Pakistan, India, and Germany.
In Israel, the delegation met with a number of senior politicians and military leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as Israeli President Isaac Herzog, and it comes just shortly after a Republican Senate delegation led by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell paid a visit to the Holy Land along with House delegations from each party.
“Prime Minister Netanyahu told Sen. McConnell that it was good to see him and that he was a true friend of Israel,” the official statement from the office of the Prime Minister said. “The Prime Minister added that he deeply appreciated the fact that Sen. McConnell and his colleagues, some of whom he has known for many years, were and still are among Israel’s best friends.”
“As Senate Majority Leader,highest ranking Jewish American elected official in history I stand here in the shadow of my ancestors who perished in the Holocaust to promise as long as Hashem breathes air to my lungs the US Senate will stand behind Israel w/fullest support”C,Schumer pic.twitter.com/ntc4SyxoXc
— Rita Rosenfeld (@rheytah) February 25, 2023
Netanyahu’s official statement of his meeting with Schumer also noted the importance of remaining on good terms with all US political parties and figures. The memo said that the delegation “stressed the importance of the bipartisan ties between Israel and the US” and “discussed the struggle against Iran, as well as the Abraham Accords and the possibilities for expanding them.”
As mentioned earlier this month, the Saudi government has shown a willingness to further promote a normalization agreement with Israel, one that would not necessarily rely on any promise about the future of a Palestinian state, but rather on security promises on behalf of the Israelis and Americans. Such a normalization agreement would bring, according to PM Netanyahu, an end to the Israeli-Arab conflict altogether, while slowly helping the internal Palestinian one as well.
