Israel Matzav

Townsend v. Schumer on Israel

You will recall that former New York City Mayor Ed Koch had to badger Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) last spring before Schumer finally came out against President Obama's disgusting treatment of Israel. When Schumer finally spoke out against Obama - more than a month after the Obama administration beat up Prime Minister Netanyahu over Ramat Shlomo - it was on Nachum Segal's JM in the AM program on WFMU. JM in the AM is a great program (I used to listen to it often when I lived in the New York area), but it's not exactly one of the major networks. Had it not been for Politico's Ben Smith, it is possible that many people outside the New York City area and many people who are not Orthodox Jews may never have heard that Senator Schumer finally spoke out.

Schumer is up for re-election. This being New York, he is 28 points ahead of his rival, Republican Jay Townsend. The two got together on Sunday for a debate at Marist College in Poughkeepsie, New York. Watching the debate, you have to wonder why Schumer is so far ahead. But then, it's New York and Schumer is a Democrat.

Unfortunately, watching the debate told me nothing about the candidates' positions on Israel. It didn't even come up. The closest they got was the Ground Zero Victory Mosque. Iran and its drive for nuclear weapons didn't come up either in a debate between two major-party Senate candidates in the most heavily Jewish state in the nation. I guess all those people who argue that Jews don't care about Israel are right.

In all fairness, Townsend has attacked Schumer for his sometimes lackadaisical support of Israel. More details here.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 12:24 PM