After Sinwar, the ICC and Sen Schumer Stand Exposed

 

The death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has left many so-called moderates in grief. The Palestine Liberation Organization’s executive committee, led by President Mahmoud Abbas, offered condolences on Sinwar’s “martyrdom,” calling the mastermind of the Oct. 7 massacre a “great national leader.” Does anyone think this group, which the Biden Administration would have rule postwar Gaza, would thwart terrorism?

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also saluted Sinwar—while receiving Iran’s foreign minister and Hamas’s top terrorists-in-suits for meetings. Another day in the life of a NATO ally.

Hardest hit by Sinwar’s death, however, should be Karim Ahmad Khan, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. Recall that Mr. Khan had claimed to be evenhanded by seeking arrest warrants for a trio of Hamas leaders—Yahya Sinwar, Ismail Haniyeh and Mohammed Deif—alongside Israel’s Prime Minister and Defense Minister.

The moral equivalence was offensive, but now that all three Hamas chiefs have been killed, Israel has stripped Mr. Khan of his fig leaf. He is prosecuting Israelis alone for their defensive war to free hostages and defeat the death squads who want to repeat their Oct. 7 attack.

There was never any chance of Sinwar standing trial in The Hague or being deterred by the prospect. While an ICC indictment means something to a democracy like Israel, it is meaningless to terrorists who have no respect for international opinion, and already live in hiding to escape being killed as illegal enemy combatants under the traditional rules of war.

Mr. Khan knows all of this. He rushed to seek arrest warrants, before seriously investigating or even talking to the Israelis, as he had promised U.S. Senators he would, for its effect on Israel. When Mr. Khan was dangling his threat, the goal seemed to be to deter Israel from entering Hamas’s stronghold of Rafah. After Israel went in, Mr. Khan made his announcement to try to stop the tanks.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu proved him wrong by safely evacuating Rafah’s civilians. Then Israel uncovered tunnels to Egypt, hostages and now Sinwar in Rafah. The Hamas No. 1 seems to have been flushed out of his tunnels by Israel’s military pressure.

Mr. Khan was wrong about Rafah, as were President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, who said she had “studied the maps.” They blocked arms to Israel over it. But Rafah’s centrality to Israel’s mission and to the chance of peace in postwar Gaza is now clear.

Yet the White House is still protecting the ICC. Over Mr. Biden’s objections, 42 House Democrats joined Republicans in early June to pass a bill sanctioning the ICC. The measure likely could pass the Senate, but Sens. Chuck Schumer and Ben Cardin have done the White House’s bidding and sat on it, despite pressure by Sen. Jim Risch and other Republicans.

Mr. Schumer promised bipartisan negotiations on an ICC sanctions bill. He never delivered, so the U.S. does nothing as the ICC expands its jurisdiction and stands poised to take up Hamas’s political struggle against Israel.

Wall Street Journal 

I was wrong about Schumer, and it feels so good

by Michael Goodwin

Never has being wrong felt so good, nor has a mistake been so worth celebrating.

Chuck Schumer surprised me in all the best ways. His opposition to the terrible Iran nuke deal is breathtakingly bold and opens the door to actually defeating it. That would be one of the best things to happen to America, Israel and the civilized world in a very long time.

Let us count the ways Schumer’s decision matters.

First, because he is the next Senate Democratic leader, I expected him to follow a president from his party and the majority of his caucus. He may pay a price for breaking out of the political box, but he gives cover to other Dems to do the same.

Second, his timing. Schumer ­announced his decision only a day after Obama made an impassioned, partisan appeal. Any momentum Obama had was stopped by Schumer, who effectively rebuked the president’s shameless attempt to link Republicans to Iranian hardliners. That rancid argument is now dead.

Third, the substance. Schumer issued a detailed statement demolishing supporters’ basic argument — that the deal, while imperfect, was better than no deal. Schumer persuasively showed the deal served Iran more than our side.

He broke his decision into three parts — the nuclear issues during the first 10 years of the deal, the nuclear issues in the following decade and the “non-nuclear” aspects, meaning Iran’s sponsorship of terrorism. For each, he asked whether we would be better off with or without the negotiated terms.

His conclusions were striking. We might be better off with the deal in the first decade, he argues, but almost certainly we would be better off without it in the other two parts.

He found numerous weaknesses in the text, including over inspections and sanctions. After the first decade, he wrote that Iran “can be very close to achieving” a nuke, and that the quest “will be codified in an agreement signed by the United States.”

He was just getting warmed up. The turning point, he said, was the non-nuclear issues, meaning Iran’s lethal ability to use unfrozen accounts of $50 billion to fund its terrorist programs. That added up to “a strong case that we are better off without an agreement than with one.”

His conclusions, which include doubts that Iran will move away from its apocalyptic theocracy, should resolve suspicions that Schumer might still side with an Obama veto. Absent a miraculous change in Iranian behavior, the senator has made the strongest possible case against the deal, so I don’t think he’ll flip-flop.

A fourth and final significance of Schumer’s position is that it makes New York the clear leader of the opposition movement. Five brave Democratic House members from the state — Eliot Engel, Steve Israel, Grace Meng, Nita Lowey and Kathleen Rice — also said no to Obama. The entire GOP delegation will do the same.

That should not be the end of it. National security is a local issue, as 9/11 painfully proved.

Former Mayor Rudy Giuliani has joined the “no” chorus, and his successor, Michael Bloomberg, should, too. Former top cop Ray Kelly should sign on, as should business and civic leaders who understand the stakes.

Most important, Gov. Cuomo should lead them. Often willing to buck his party’s left-wing orthodoxy, including on school choice, the Iran deal should be the next example.

With the Empire State remaining the perennial first choice among jihadists, New York’s governor has an absolute duty to do everything he can to protect its residents, businesses and visitors from attack.

Schumer’s conclusion alone that Iran would use the end of sanctions to expand its export of terrorism is reason enough for the governor to join the opposition.

He would seem to be halfway there. Cuomo traveled to Israel to show solidarity with the Jewish state during last year’s Gaza war. When he returned, he said, “Any New Yorker who doesn’t understand that Israel’s fight is our fight is living not in the state of New York but in the state of denial.”

Now he can prove he meant what he said.

Schumer has Hikend arrested because he dared protest in front of his office paid by taxpayers

Call Schumer to Publicly Oppose and Fight Iran Deal: Hikend

Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn) called on Senator Charles Schumer (D-New York) to publicly oppose the Iran deal and to commit to leading the fight to stop it in Congress. 

“We’ve listened to Senator Schumer for years and how he takes every opportunity to explain the origin of his name Schumer and what it means for him to be a proud “Shomer”—which in Hebrew means protector. From your time as Congressman to one of the most powerful members of the Senate, Senator Schumer, you have repeatedly called yourself our ‘shomer’ (protector). Now is the time to live up to your claim and put your words into action. We need you to demonstrate leadership on one of most critical foreign policy issues of our time. Be our protector and stop this terrible deal,” said Hikind.

Hikind added, “Senator Schumer says he will “do the right thing.” These are unprecedented times and it’s time to stop this deal, which is disastrous for America and our allies in the Middle East. This will define your legacy. Please do not allow partisan politics or any other considerations to cloud your judgment."

“I call upon all New Yorkers to contact Senator Schumer’s office – call him at 202-224-6542, Tweet him @SenSchumer, e-mail him, let him know how you feel. Senator Schumer is a powerful voice in Congress and he needs to hear from you. Now is not the time to be silent.”

Contact Information for Senator Charles E. Schumer
New York:
Phone: 212-486-4430
Fax: 202-228-2838

Washington, D.C.:
Phone: 202-224-6542
Fax: 202-228-3027

Web: http://www.schumer.senate.gov/contact/email-chuck
Twitter: @SenSchumer

Iran is a threat to the US & Israel, and Senator Schumer is busy with "long trucks on the highway"?

He is a Jew and represents the second largest Jewish population in the world. Iran is threatening to wipe Israel off the map, and what does this "yolt" do? 

Nothing .... Nada! He has no time for his fellow Jews, he  is busy fighting legislation that would allow large trucks on US highways.

So who voted him in to "represent" us? 
Yes.... you guessed it ... 
the "Heimishe" Gedoilim... who don't care about the USA and don't care about Israel! 
All they care about is how many $$$$ Schumer can bring into the "Heiligeh" Mosdos!

So now that Obama is on a slippery slope to destroy the USA and Israel, Schumer who should be screaming from the Capital rooftop has suddenly lost his voice!

Someone should tell Schumer what Mordechai told Esther:
"For if you persist in keeping silent at a time like this, relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from some other place, while you and your father's house will perish. And who knows whether it was just for such a time as this that you attained the royal position." (Esther 3, 14)

U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer says he’ll fight legislation that would allow longer trailer trucks on the nation’s highways. 
The Democrat said Wednesday that a provision in a Senate transportation bill would authorize twin 33-foot trailers. Current rules allow for trucks to pull two trailers that are each 28 feet long.

Schumer says that when the length of the cab is factored in,the longer trucks could stretch to 84 feet. He says trucks the size of an eight-story building have no place on highways because they would present a “tremendous” safety risk and place too much weight on bridges and roads.Shipping companies support the larger trucks, saying they would allow them to move goods more efficiently around the country.