Israel Matzav

Koch blasts Democrats for silence on Iran

Former New York City Mayor and Democratic Congressman Ed Koch released another blistering commentary on Tuesday in which he blasts Democratic members of Congress for their silence on Iran.

What have the Senate and House done to convey to the President their differences with him on these issues and the outrageous treatment accorded our long-time ally, Israel? They issued joint letters. The House letter was signed by 333 members and the Senate letter was signed by 76 Senators.

The letters were addressed to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, when I believe they should have been sent to the President directly, since it is he, not she, who is orchestrating the change in the standing of Israel and the elevation of Arab interests.

The letters consist of a platitudinous statement of why the U.S. and Israel are allies, but do not criticize the President or convey to him that Congress will oppose his efforts to change the U.S.-Israel relationship.

Even more shocking is that some key Senators were unwilling even to sign the toothless letter. One can only speculate why the following Senators declined to sign - John Kerry (D-MA), Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee; Christopher Dodd (D-CT), Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee; Dick Durbin (D-IL), Democratic Party Whip; Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee; Harry Reid (D-NV), Senate Majority Leader, and others. Was it due to agreement with the President's plan? Was it fear of the President? I suspect agreement.

There are those, when asked what they are doing to challenge and defeat the President's actions with regard to these grave matters, who have answered, "I am working behind the scenes." Those corridors must be heavily crowded and those hidden efforts do not appear to have produced results. I repeat, the silence is deafening.

Read the whole thing.

There's another version of this story that associates that last paragraph with Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY).

Koch was particularly critical of U.S. Senator Charles Schumer of New York. Koch wrote previously that when he challenged the Democrats’ silence on Israel, Schumer contacted him privately to say that he was “working behind the scenes” to alter U.S. policy. Now, in his April 20 commentary, Koch wrote:

“There are those, when asked what they are doing to challenge and defeat the President’s actions with regard to these grave matters, who have answered, ‘I am working behind the scenes.’ Those corridors must be heavily crowded and those hidden efforts do not appear to have produced results. I repeat, the silence is deafening.”

Will any other prominent Democrat speak up?

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:54 AM