Seems like not much has changed, though now New York Democratic Representatives Eliot Engel, Steve Israel, and Nita Lowey oppose the Iran deal. As the only New York Jewish congressman endorsing it, Nadler cannot in good conscience separate his identity from his politics. While Jewish congressmen may be routinely plagued by accusations of dual loyalty, the dual chant of “Death to America, Death to Israel” should have been enough to prevent Nadler from signing on to this agreement.
Nadler would do well to acquaint himself with an astoundingly revealing AIPAC speech given by Sen. Chuck Schumer in 2010 highlighting the severity of the Iranian threat. It perhaps explains why Schumer ultimately stood up to Obama.
In that speech Schumer defended Prime Minister Netanyahu’s warnings that a nuclear Iran would constitute an existential threat to Israel. He concluded that “diplomatic efforts have failed” and he endorsed economic sanctions as the “best way to choke Iran’s nuclear ambitions.”
“There were many Jews in America in the ‘30s,” he intoned, “many of whom were in positions of influence, some of whom were in Congress…. Too many people in the American establishment said, ‘Hitler is just saber rattling.’… Unfortunately, to our shame, the American Jewish community largely sat back. The establishment’s argument, ‘Don’t worry. Nothing bad will happen’ won out.”
“The current president of Iran, his analogies, the analogies to the ’30s are stunning,” he continued. “He wants nothing more than to see the homeland of the Jewish people, Eretz Yisrael, wiped off the planet. This is not just isolated crazy talk from some two-bit terrorist or anti-Semitic extremist. This is venomous hate speech from a head of state who seeks to transform Iran into the dominant military force in the whole Middle East.
“When there are fears and plausible scenarios that the Jewish people could be in mortal danger, we must never repeat the complacency of the ’30s…. Can we really call this saber rattling when…they’re on the edge of developing the most awesome and deadly weapons mankind has ever known?”
Netanyahu could not have said it better himself. Had Schumer shared these words with his fellow congressmen this past summer rather than make a show of political agonizing, perhaps Obama would not have been able to rattle his own political saber strongly enough to win the support of congressmen like Jerry Nadler.