Acting Far Above His Paygrade———————–
A Commentary
By J. F. Kelly, Jr.
In the military, the expression, ‘‘acting above his (or her) paygrade”, was commonly used to describe the actions of someone that was not justified by that person’s rank or job description. It seems applicably applied to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer who gave a speech calling for elections in a foreign nation and the replacement of its democratically-elected head of government. Mr. Schumer clearly acted above the powers conveyed to him by his office as a legislator representing the people of the State of New York and his duties as majority leader.
Among the powers given to the U.S. Senate by the Constitution are the power to legislate and to advise and consent, including the ratification of treaties and trade agreements and approval of certain presidential appointments, and to try impeachment cases. It is silent with regard to calling for elections in foreign countries or to otherwise meddle in the politics of sovereign nations. An individual senator does not speak for the nation. He represents the people of New York State. In fact, prior to 1913, when the 17th Amendment was ratified, U. S. senators were chosen by their state’s legislature.
In his speech, Mr. Schumer declared that Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, had lost his way and criticized his conduct of the war to eliminate Hamas which, while it exists in any form, will pose a threat to the safety of Israelis. Every nation must ultimately act in its own best interest and that would be the safety of its people which is Netanyahu’s chief responsibility. Calling for the replacement of the elected leader of a sovereign nation while it is engaged in a war to eliminate a threat to its very existence is nothing short of outrageous. That this nation is our closest ally in the volatile Middle East makes it especially egregious. It gives aid and comfort to an enemy not only of Israel but of the United States.
To compound the insult, President Joe Biden endorsed Schumer’s view that Netanyahu has “lost his way and must be deposed.” With friends like us, who needs enemies? Who is running this administration? Mr. Biden is under intense pressure from the left wing of his party to back off from fully supporting Israel’s goal of destroying Hamas because of collateral civilian casualties. Hamas employs a strategy of operating and hiding among civilians, using them as human shields. This is a war crime. Civilian casualties will be unavoidable if the goal of eliminating Hamas is to be achieved. Where is the world outrage over the Hamas strategy? It, not Israel, is solely responsible for the predictable carnage.
In less than three months since the October 7 massacre, Biden has gone wobbly and favors a two-state “solution”. Seriously? The only solution that would provide would be to resolve any questions regarding our inability to learn from our past mistakes. Palestinians are not ready for statehood and will not be until their children are no longer being socialized to despise Jews and Americans and seek their destruction. Biden cannot have it two ways. He is either fully supportive of Israel and lets them finish the job or we will cave in to the world-wide bias against the Jewish State.
The best way to end the carnage and famine is to end the war by winning it instead of pausing it while negotiators dither. Having accomplished about 75% of the goal of eliminating Hamas leaders, it would be a huge and historical mistake to fail to take out the remaining Hamas leaders in Rafah. To leave any of them capable of regrouping would be to lose the war and waste the sacrifices of those they lost. How quickly the critics of Israel seem to have forgotten the horrors of October 7 when pregnant women were tortured and raped in front of their husbands and children and their bodies dragged through the streets. How quickly they seem to have forgotten the beheading of babies in front of their parents. Many Palestinians celebrated these events and danced in the streets. Where was the outrage among the many decent Palestinians who did not? How can the Israelis be blamed for saying, “Never again. Never again will we just turn the other cheek.” Hamas destroyed any guarantee of a morally equivalent response. What would that even be? I haven’t read of any Israeli soldiers torturing or raping pregnant women or dragging their mutilated bodies through the streets or beheading babies.
Schumer’s status as the senior elected official of Jewish descent gives him no license to meddle in Israeli politics. He claims that many Israelis have lost confidence in the vision and direction of their government. Many have not, however, and support Netanyahu as a wartime leader. They’ll be time enough for elections when the war is won. In any event, it wasn’t Schumer’s call.
Mr. Biden warned that an Israeli attack on Rafah would cross a “red line”. He reportedly left open the possibility that we may withhold some military assistance if the operation caused extensive civilian casualties. He needs to be careful about drawing too many red lines. His 1% increase in our military budget before inflation was not exactly a mandate to continue talking tough even to our allies. We need all the help we can get from them.
April 1, 2024
Commentaries by J. F. Kelly, Jr. 