Washington – The Obama administration pushed back on Friday against critical comments made by Senator Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y) accusing the president of having a “counterproductive” policy on Israel.
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Asked by the Huffington Post about the remarks during the morning’s gaggle, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs replied: “I don’t think it is a stretch to say we don’t agree with what Senator Schumer said.”
The night before, Schumer rebuked the administration’s approach to Israeli settlements in Jerusalem. “This has to stop,” he told the politically conservative Jewish Nachum Segal Show. “I told the president, I told Rahm Emanuel and others in the administration that I thought the policy they took to try to bring about negotiations is counterproductive, because when you give the Palestinians hope that the United States will do its negotiating for them, they are not going to sit down and talk.”
The remarks were, far and away, the toughest Israel-related criticism leveled at this administration to come from a congressional Democrat (and White House ally) to date. A hawkish Israel supporter, Schumer also charged the Obama administration with having a less-than-firm commitment to Israel; that cabinet officials (namely Sec. of State Hillary Clinton) had demanded too many concessions of the Jewish state, and that the White House had been overbearing and one-sided in its demands during the nascent peace process.
Gibbs acknowledged seeing a write-up of the remarks, though not hearing them.
“We have an unwavering commitment to the security of Israel and the Israeli people,” he said. “You heard General Jones speak about that earlier in the week. We have said that from the beginning of the administration.”
The interview with Sen. Schumer can be heard here via RealPlayer
traffic to the nachum segal show has now skyrocketed. Nachum can get Schumer to be real and express himself not a snaky politican.
kol hakavod i wish his other policies woold be in line with our communities values
Mr Gibbs, what you have is meaningless words and double talk. Mr Schumer wants real action underlying the words, not just words.
We jews are too smart for just words, and youll see that in the next election.
Does anybody really care what this fool Gibbs has to say. I doubt that he even understood what he was reading. He is just a stupid mouthpiece for this corrupt administration and hopefully on 1/20/2011 he will join hussein Obama back to Chicago where they can get jobs with ACORN.
Here you go to all idiots bashing senator schumer yesterday, I don’t think that schumer loves us, but when he does something right why do we have to bash him, and think its only for political gain..
Schumer IS a snakey politician. He looks at polls then decides what to do. If the polls said so, he would be no friend of Israel.
That wasn’t strong language at all on chucky’s part. However, at least he said something positive.
It’s about time all you anti-Schumer types hear and see how our Senator really feels about Israel. Enough with the Schumer bashing, first and foremost he has always represented his district, his state and his constituency. He’s always been one of the most forceful voices in Congress for Israel.
Will Schumer keep to his word and “Blast” the Obama administration in public, as he said he would?
chuck had to say this because NY has big Jewish community and has been bashing Wall street and making the gov and the mayor mad.
Obama administartion is in turmoil.they thought that some self hating anti israel liberal jews (such as ben amy from j street etc) will give them cover , and make the jewish pulic think that the democratic jews are backing its anti israel efforts. But when such libs as schumer and koch come out swinging, obama is over. Every nyer shall call schumer to thank. I spoke to a Gillibrand aide which told me that they’ve been getting a lot of phone calls and emails.
Pro isreal supporters:
Hold every Democrat that doesn’t speak up for israel accountable. Make the phone call. It helps!
Where is the pressure on Gillibrand & the rest of our ny & nj congressional delegation???
2124864430 please call sen shumers office to thank him
Do you New Yorkers remember when you had a senator who spoke up for Israel and all Jews? Remember Al D’Amato? We didn’t have a better friend in the Senate, but apparently you New Yorkers knew better. If it wasn’t so pathetic, I’d laugh.
Please Comment 10 is so right. Its politics. They let political leaders say what they need to win elections. The White lets Schumer say what he needs to and then they rebut and say what they have to so that everyone caters to their crowd. This is called the good guy bad guy tactic. Schumer is one of the dtrongest people in Washington. It is because of him that many democratic battles were won. He stands to become dem leader after Ried. Obama would listen more to him if this wasn’t a charade. But leave it up to out yidalech. We buy all this garbage all the time.
schumer go for the talk again! go schumer pressure them as much as u can
REply to #10 . I am assuming that you did extensive research and came to the conclusion that ” Most Jews are not smart “.Would it be possible that you share your great discoveries with us ?
freedom of speech has taken on new meaning in america. 1984 – here we come….
I am not surprised by Schumer. He was on Nachum Segal show. What did you expect him to say? The host environment was where to sound pro-Israel and anti-Obama. I don’t have all that much faith in Schumer. He is a lib, and will vote with the libs in the Senate. And his vote will be to support the Obama war against Israel. So, you’ll ask, isn’t that two-faced? Yes, but that’s politics.
The chiddush here is that the White House took note of the statement and attacked Schumer. And that is at least as irresponsible. Gibbs would have been better off denying that the administration’s policies are so bad, and that would have made Schumer look like he was attention seeking. The counter-attack is telling. The approach is to crush Israel, and to do the same to anyone that supports it.
Shame on you Obama. Shame on you Gibbs. Shame on you Rahm. Shame on you Hillary. REMEMBER IN NOVEMBER.
Chucky – you spoke well. But we constituents don’t trust that you’ll act accordingly. Prove it before the next election.
… of the few things the Repoblicans can learn from the dems, is their quick responses, being on top of things..
Dont get me wrong their ideas have no common sense.
But you can learn from your foes.
don’t believe one word Chucky had to say. he is too high up in the food chain to make waves in the Obama camp. lets see if this Sunday, like every other Sunday goes on national TV and knocks Obama, not a chance.
He is no fool. He realizes that his foolish constituents are coming to their senses and will vote him out unless he changes his tune on Israel. Don’t think for a second he doesn’t hear our phone calls or read our emails that he better start putting up than shutting up. Lets keep the pressure up on the Democrats till November and vote them all out then
Its about time schumer wake up
All the Obamah policys out of control
Why did schumer go along with the health care issue?
Maybe he’ll relize soon that this was the muslim Obamah bringing down america
Its scary, how the jewish people were and many still so blinded
The democrats were always on the wrong side and will always be
We tend to llok at the short term fix
were can we make another buck…..
Wake up America or I dont want to think whats next……………………………
Gut Shabbos
I am no democrat lover and never will be. But schumer is an exception – I am not sure what people have against him but I always hear on the news about new issues he is sponsoring and he seems to be the only one in Washington getting things done. Where’s the beef folks?
Nochum is a winner! This whole story got him lots of free PR he would have otherwise never have had.
Schumer is scared that he will not be reelected. We like tea and tea parties here in New York too.
Robert Gibbs is a proster goy who is not cultured at all. The administration and its followers think they can bully Americans into submission. This is America still; and we are allowed to speak up if we disagree. And we better speakup loud and clear. Why doesn’t Malcolm Hoenlein organize a protest to Washington. Let’s fill the Mall in D.C. and let the politicians know we are around.