What A Day - Sen. Chuck Schumer Slams Netanyahu As "Obstacle To Peace"

Episode Date: March 15, 2024

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday called for new Israeli elections to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in the U.S., called Netanyahu an “obstacle to peace.” Ben Rhodes, co-host of Crooked’s ‘Pod Save The World’ and former deputy national security advisor to President Barack Obama, explains what Schumer’s comments could signal about Democrats’ shifting attitudes toward Israel over the war in Gaza.And in headlines: Vice President Kamala Harris made history by visiting an abortion provider in Minnesota, the Manhattan District Attorney’s office asked to delay its hush money case against former President Donald Trump by 30 days, and Pornhub blocked Texas users from using the site amid an ongoing legal battle over the state’s age verification law.Show Notes:What A Day – YouTube – https://www.youtube.com/@whatadaypodcastFollow us on Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/crookedmedia/For a transcript of this episode, please visit crooked.com/whataday

It's Friday, March 15th. I'm Trevelle Anderson. And I'm Priyanka Arabindi, and this is What A Day, where, like a SpaceX rocket yesterday, we too plan to reach new heights and then get completely lost at sea. It's giving Amelia Earhart, and I love that for us, maybe. Yes, never to be heard from again on some island somewhere. Hopefully having a nice little drink. Literally. On today's show,

Vice President Kamala Harris made history by visiting an abortion provider in Minnesota. Plus, we wrap up by talking about the controversy that got so many people who don't care about the Royals talking about the Royals, the altered photo

of Kate Middleton. But first, yesterday, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called for quote unquote course corrections by Israel, including the need to elect new leadership as the country's genocidal acts in Gaza continue. Take a listen to a bit of his speech from the Senate floor. As a lifelong supporter of Israel, it has become clear to me the Netanyahu coalition no longer fits the needs of Israel after October 7th. The world has changed radically since then. And the Israeli people are being stifled right now by a governing vision that is stuck in the past. Now, this declaration is significant for a couple of reasons, one of which is that Schumer is the highest ranking Jewish person in the U.S. government.

And as Politico put it, his speech signals, quote, that as far as criticizing Israel, the gloves are officially off. Yeah, incredibly striking, incredibly far from what we once would have expected from him to say. What else did he have to say in this statement? So he said a few things. He spoke about the viability of a two-state solution. Once Hamas is deprived of power, the Palestinians will be much freer to choose a government they want and deserve. With the prospect of a real two-state solution on the table, and for the first time, genuine statehood for the Palestinian people, I believe they will be far more likely to support more

mainstream leaders committed to peace. I think the same is true for the Israeli people. Call me an optimist, but I believe that if the Israeli public is presented with a path to a two-state solution that offers a chance at lasting peace and coexistence, then most mainstream Israelis will moderate their views and support it. And here's some of what he had to say about the U.S.'s role in all of this. On the Israeli side, the U.S. government should demand that Israel conduct itself with a future two-state solution in mind. We should not be

forced into a position of unequivocally supporting the actions of an Israeli government that include bigots who reject the idea of a Palestinian state. And lastly, here are some of his comments about Israelis electing a new leader. Five months into this conflict, it is clear that Israelis need to take stock of the situation and ask, must we change course? At this critical juncture, I believe a new election is the only way to allow for a healthy and open decision-making process about the future of Israel, at a time when so many Israelis have lost their confidence in the vision and direction of their government. I also believe a majority of the Israeli public will recognize the need for change. And I believe that holding a new election once the war starts to wind down would give Israelis an opportunity to express their vision for the post-war future.

Wow. OK, very significant statements from a U.S. congressional leader, not to mention a Jewish U.S. congressional leader. Schumer's speech marks another move by Democrats away from their previous hug-in-public, push-in-private approach as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza continues to worsen. How might this impact where things are now in terms of a ceasefire? Yeah, I had that same question. So I called up friend of the pod, Ben Rhodes, for an answer or two. Ben is one of the hosts of Crooked's Pod Save the World and a former deputy national security advisor to President Obama. I started by asking him for his immediate reaction to Schumer's comments. Yeah, I was pretty shocked because it's not just a Democratic Party establishment. Chuck Schumer has been an incredibly reliable pro-Israel Democrat for a

long time, right? And so, first of all, this is the most direct challenge to Netanyahu from a senior elected Democrat other than, you know, say Bernie Sanders. And it's, you know, pretty blunt. It's saying, we think somebody other than Bibi Netanyahu should be leading Israel. So that's not subtle. Frankly, I think it's too late. This should have been obvious for a long time, but I guess better late than never. Yeah, you just mentioned that Schumer called for an election in Israel. But you know, the Senate majority leader doesn't exactly have the power to, you know, snap his fingers and make elections happen in foreign countries. How much influence do you

think his comments, though, will have in terms of Israeli politics and potentially this war that we are witnessing? Well, I think that the subtext of the whole war has been that Netanyahu's popularity, which was already pretty tenuous on October 7th, right, because there'd been a huge protest movement at his efforts to essentially neuter the Supreme Court in Israel and take greater control with his far-right coalition. That popularity collapsed. And so the basic analysis of most people who watch Israeli politics is that Netanyahu, if there was an election, would lose. So for someone who's as well known to the Israeli public as Chuck Schumer

to be saying, you know what, we've lost confidence in this guy. We think there should be an election. I don't think that that means, you know, there's an election tomorrow. But it definitely, you know, think of it as a shaky foundation under Netanyahu. And this definitely deals another blow to that foundation. But, you know, at the end of the day, Netanyahu is a survivor and he doesn't want to leave the stage because, frankly, if he's not prime minister, he could very well end up in prison. He has that in common with Trump. He's under indictment. And so he's got a lot of incentives, tragically, to both stay in power and to continue this war.

So now Mitch McConnell, who is the Senate minority leader, he's stepping down from that position. He said in a rebuttal that it was, quote unquote, grotesque and hypocritical for Schumer to call for the ouster of a democratically elected leader of another country. Let's take a listen to a bit of that. Israel is not a colony of America. These leaders serve at the pleasure of the party in power in Washington? Only Israel's citizens should have a say in who runs their government. This is the very definition of democracy and sovereignty. Either we respect their decisions or we disrespect their democracy. Does he have a point? It's a pretty big deal after all, right, to say that there needs to be an election to replace Netanyahu. Is this as big of a deal as the

headlines are making it? I totally disagree with Mitch McConnell, no surprise there, in the sense that first of all, Bibi Netanyahu has had no problem interfering in American politics for a very long time, right? When I was in the White House and I was Deputy National Security Advisor, Bibi Netanyahu flew all the way to Washington at the invitation of then Speaker of the House John Boehner to give a speech to a joint session of Congress opposing Barack Obama's foreign policy, opposing the Iran nuclear deal. Why is it that Bibi Netanyahu gets to interfere carte blanche in American politics and American politicians don't get to have any say in what goes on in Israel? Frankly, I wish we were more comfortable speaking up when we think leaders like Netanyahu are way

out of step with the values that we say we support. Look, this isn't like a regime change policy. It's not like we're invading a country. I'm against that. I'm against trying to replace the leaders. We've learned that that doesn't work. But equating an American politician like Schumer having an opinion that he states publicly about what he thinks of the Israeli leadership, that's not the same thing as saying, as Mitch McConnell's done in plenty of times, we're going to sanction this leader until they go away, or we're going to invade a country and pick its leader. That's not what's happening here. This is somebody saying, I think Netanyahu has failed as a leader. And I think that Israel will be more stable with an election. I wish we as progressives did a little bit more of that,

frankly. So now you already mentioned that for many of us, these types of reactions to the violence that's ongoing in the Middle East is a little delayed for many of us, right? Yeah. But I'm wondering what you think the impact of Schumer's speech will be on the Biden White House. We know via reporting that he sent his remarks to them before he gave them. But does this kind of thing have the power to influence our policy? Will we see Biden being even more full-throated in kind of articulating how Israel should be responding here? I think so. I think the reason Schumer did this is, number one, it gives a lot of political cover, frankly, to Democrats in Congress to be of the Gaza Strip, where there are over a million Palestinians in dire circumstances facing a potential Israeli

ground invasion. And they're trying to do whatever they can to prevent Israel from doing that, because they know that that could significantly increase what is already a humanitarian catastrophe. So I think what this is a part of is probably an effort by Schumer and the Biden administration to get across to the Israeli government, don't do this. If you go into Rafah, we are going to start considering things like conditioning military aid, maybe considering things like voting for a ceasefire at the United Nations, things that, frankly, I think they should have already done. But again, I mean, this shows that this RAFA division and this division about whether there should even be the pursuit of a Palestinian state, I think this shows that the frustration is boiling over in the Democratic Party. Yeah, part of me also wonders if this,

you know, latest development will make things worse on the ground if this will harden Netanyahu's resolve. Any sense in that direction? We know Netanyahu, he has said in not so many words that he has disagreed with this, you know, kind of, I guess, more progressive push that the administration has been articulating lately. I don't think that's possible in the sense that, you know, that argument is one you hear a lot, including from the administration that, you know, by not breaking with Netanyahu, by continuing to support Israel unconditionally, really, we're able to kind of encourage them to let more assistance in, or we're able to kind of counsel them to be more restrained. But nothing that I've seen since October 7th suggests that that's working. They've not been restrained

in their military operation. They're not really letting in assistance at anywhere near the scale that needs to take place. It is certainly possible that Netanyahu and the Israeli government just ignores this, goes forward with their plans, and Rafa continues to limit assistance. However, we haven't tried to exert leverage yet. So we've tried the theory of supporting Israel unconditionally. We have not tried to exert any leverage through our military assistance, which they rely on for their offensive, through our vote at the United Nations. I'd rather see us try to be on the right side of the issue and exert leverage. And again, for people listening who care a lot about Israel, I'd say that the military operation,

it's not rescuing the hostages. The hostages have only gotten out through diplomacy. It's not destroying Hamas. Hamas is an idea, and it's an idea of resistance that is probably gaining momentum because of the scale of the civilian suffering. So whatever perspective you're looking at this issue from, I think trying a different approach is more than warranted given what we've already seen in Gaza. Ben Rhodes, thanks so much for giving us some of your time today. No problem. Good to talk to you. That was my conversation with Pod Save the World's Ben Rhodes. And I do want to note that yesterday, right before we went to record, Axios reported that Hamas has responded to the latest hostage deal proposal. The proposal was given to

Egyptian and Qatari mediators, and Hamas said in a statement that it includes a ceasefire and the release of prisoners. They also demand the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, displaced Palestinians being able to return to their homes, as well as the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. Prime Minister Netanyahu's office responded via a statement saying the country's war cabinet will be updated today, but that, quote, Hamas continues with its preposterous demands. And if you all out there want more on this topic in particular, tune into What A Day This Weekend when Max Fisher and Aaron Ryan dig into why Israel is getting bolder about defying America. But that's the latest for now. Let's get to some headlines. Headlines.

Vice President Kamala Harris toured a Planned Parenthood clinic in Minnesota yesterday. It's believed to be the first time someone from the executive branch has made an official visit to an abortion provider in American history. Harris has been heavily campaigning on the issue of abortion as a way to mobilize voters for November. Take a listen to the vice president's remarks from the clinic. And please do understand that when we talk about a clinic such as this, it is absolutely about healthcare and reproductive healthcare.

So everyone get ready for the language, uterus. That part of the body needs a lot of medical care from time to time. Somebody tell that to the Republican lawmakers and maybe also explain to them what a uterus is.

I'm a little afraid of what they would do with that information. But, I mean, we cannot overstate the significance of Vice President Harris being at Planned Parenthood

yesterday, a place that is a site of so much essential health care for so many Americans. It's really monumental. Absolutely. The Manhattan District Attorney's Office wants to delay its case against former President Donald Trump by 30 days. This one is over the alleged hush money payments that he made to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

The Manhattan DA's office proposed a pause yesterday. They said that it would give Trump's lawyers time to review new documents from federal prosecutors. This comes less than two weeks before Trump was set to stand trial. But even with this delay, the case is on track to go to trial before Election Day. Meanwhile, in Florida, a federal judge rejected one of Trump's requests to throw out his classified documents case. Judge Aileen Cannon, who was appointed to the bench by Trump, told the former president's lawyers, quote, it's difficult to see how this gets you to the dismissal of an indictment after hearing their arguments. But she has still yet to weigh in on when the case will actually go to trial. The American Library Association released new

data yesterday saying that more books were targeted for censorship by individuals and organized campaigns in 2023 than the past two years combined. 4,240 unique titles were challenged last year. That's the highest number they've ever counted. And books with LGBTQ plus and characters of color made up almost half of the targeted titles. Also, to absolutely no one's surprise, the states with the most books challenged were Texas and Florida. Maybe we try to get kids reading more books rather than taking them away. Just a thought. Reading is good. Reading, I feel like, is a skill I rely on every single day.

Let's get those kids reading. Reading is fundamental. Yes. Oh, yes. Former North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory is stepping down as the national co-chairman of the centrist third-party organization No Labels. They don't have candidates yet, but yesterday the group announced plans for choosing who to run. Dems are generally worried about No Labels drawing voters away from Biden this year,

which could give Trump a boost. The group has pushed back on that sentiment, saying that they are not interested in playing spoiler, so maybe they just shouldn't. Take a listen to the group's leader and former Senator Joe Lieberman on CNN yesterday. It's decision time to try to find the best bipartisan unity ticket we can give the American people as the third choice they say they want overwhelmingly because they don't want to have to choose again between Trump and Biden. I'm sorry. Half the people I talk to are like blissfully unaware that an election is really even happening this November. I don't really think we need to add more options into the mix.

You're making a point there. Just a thought. Pornhub, one of the most popular pornographic websites, blocked users in Texas starting yesterday. The reason is because of an ongoing legal battle over a state age verification law. The Republican-led state legislature passed a law last year that would make users upload and verify their identity to get on Pornhub every time they try to access the website. Last month, Attorney General Ken Paxton actually sued Pornhub for not complying with the law and won in federal appeals court last week, which led to the block. Now, if users try to access the website in Texas, they're greeted with a long, frustrated message

in which the company calls the state's law, quote, ineffective, haphazard, and dangerous. This is not the first state this has happened in either. There are currently 17 states that have passed or introduced similar age verification laws for access to pornographic websites. And you know, I had to look this up, Priyanka, but there was a 2018 study that porn hub did oh the scholars at porn hub listen okay tracking the number of people who come to their website and texas was the number two state for 2017 that sounds like a lot of pissed off people my point exactly listen if this is what mobilizes the people against and leadership in tex in Texas. I'll take it. It's fine. Listen, TikTok and

pornography will change the world, apparently. Truly. And those are the headlines. Stay tuned for a little tea time about none other than the missing princess of Wales. We'll be right back. It's Friday Watt Squad, and

before we wrap up for the week, we have to join the public in asking the question, where in the world is Kate Middleton? Yes, it's a real Carmen Sandiego situation. If you haven't heard about all the drama surrounding the Princess of Wales, you must be living under a rock because we

could not escape it if we tried. It has gotten so bad that just yesterday, one of the world's largest news agencies, AFP, said that they no longer consider Kensington Palace a quote, trusted source after this snafu over the latest photo release. But the one thing we do know for certain is that this whole thing is a massive, massive mess.

No longer considering the palace to be like trustworthy. Right. That's huge to me. That's like big. What's going on over there? Something's amiss. That's a monarchy of a major nation. Absolutely bananas.

And I'm speaking of bananas in a hard right here. But in the middle of all of this, who but Meghan Markle, the Duchess of Sussex, don't know if we're using the title or not. Apparently she is still, picked yesterday of all days to announce her new lifestyle brand. We're not really sure what it is.

It's called American Riviera Orchard. It's incredibly confusing. But yes, just of all the times in the world that she could have done this, just mess on top of mess. Mm-mm, mm-mm, mm-mm. And just like that she could have done this. Just mess on top of mess. And just like that, we have checked our temps. They're a little skeptical, but we're holding our hope. All over the place. One more thing before we go, The boys are back for season two.

Pod Save the World host Tommy Vitor and Roger Bennett of Men in Blazers are teaming up again for another season of World Corrupt. This time they are unpacking how Saudi Arabia, yet another oil-rich nation with a troubled human rights record,

has secured the role of World Cup host in 2034. How does this keep happening? I will certainly be listening to find out. Check out the first episode now in the Positive the World feed and tune in every Saturday for new episodes. That is all for today. If you like the show, make sure you subscribe, leave reviews. Someone give Kate Middleton a masterclass video on photo editing. All right. And tell your friends to listen. And if you are into reading and not just all the books conservatives want to ban because that means they've got to be

good, like me, well today is also a nightly newsletter. Check it out and subscribe at crooked.com slash subscribe. I'm Priyanka Arabindi. I'm Traevel Anderson. And don't mess with books and porn, Texas. Listen. Maybe they'll learn their lesson. Maybe they won't.

Maybe they won't. They probably won't. They probably won't. They probably won't. What a Day is a production of Crooked Media. It's recorded and mixed by Bill Lance. Our associate producers are Raven Yamamoto and Natalie Bettendorf. We had production help today from Michelle Alloy, Greg Walters, and Julia Clare. And our showrunner

is Leo Duran. Adrienne Hill is our executive producer. Our theme music is by Colin Gilliard and Kashaka.