'No, That Is Not Your Job,' Say Critics After Schumer Claims 'Job' Is to 'Fight for Aid to Israel'

Progressive critics of Senate Minority Chuck Schumer had fresh reasons to speak out Sunday after the powerful New York Democrat said that "one of many of [his] jobs" in the US Senate was to fight for ongoing taxpayer-funded military and financial assistance to the Israeli government, a position that has been the focus of growing protest among rank-and-file party members and the public at large in the face of Israel's brutal genocide against the Palestinian people of Gaza.

“I have many jobs as [Senate] leader... and one is to fight for aid to Israel — all the aid that Israel needs," Schumer said at a gathering of Jewish leaders and community members in New York on Sunday.

"I will continue to fight for it.," Schumer continued. "We delivered more security assistance to Israel, our ally, than ever, ever before."

According to Jacob Kornbluh, who provided footage of the remarks while reporting for The Forward, Schumer told the audience that his support for Jewish security funding will only continue growing under his leadership, calling it his “baby.”

"As long as I’m in the Senate," Schumer said, "this program will continue to grow from strength to strength, and we won’t let anyone attack it or undo it."

Meanwhile, in Gaza over the weekend and despite claims that a cease fire remains in effect, bombings by Israel in Gaza killed and wounded dozens of people, including women, children, and police officers.

“We found my three little nieces in the street. They say ‘ceasefire’ and all. What did those children do? What did we do?” Samer al-Atbash, an uncle of the three children killed in Gaza City, told Reuters.

Critics of Schumer's leadership took his comments Sunday as yet more confirmation that his relentless and unquestioning support for Israel—despite the genocide in Gaza, the enormous drop in public support for US support of the Israeli government's policies—as a sign that he remains far out of step with the general public and party membership, especially younger Democrats.

"A reminder that he vast majority of Democratic voters don’t agree with this—either this being his job description or aid to Israel itself—which is why Schumer should not be leader of the Democrats in the Senate," said journalist Mehdi Hasan.

"No, that is not your job," declared Saikat Chakrabarti, a Bay Area progressive running for a seat in the US House in California in this year's primary.

"Seventy-five percent of Democratic voters oppose sending Israel more military aid, as do 66% of independents and 60% of Americans overall," noted Dylan Williams, vice president for government affairs at the Center for International Policy, in response to the clip. "Schumer may use his position as Leader to push for more aid to Israel, but he should not misunderstand that to be part of the job Democrats entrusted to him."

Progressive organizer Aaron Regunberg, in a social media response, listed "jobs a Senate Democratic Leader should have," which include: "Fight Trump/fascism; Help Democrats win back power; Pass policy to help working people," compared to "jobs a Senate Democratic Leader shouldn’t have: Fight for all the aid that Israel needs."

"That’s just not the job," Regunberg said. "Schumer needs to resign."