Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer falsely claimed Sunday that he refused to shake Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hand during his address to Congress last week because of “serious disagreements” over policy.
A photograph and video footage of Schumer meeting with Netanyahu privately before the speech, released by Netanyahu’s office, show him shaking Netanyahu’s hand. Schumer simply refused to repeat the cordial gesture in public.
Viewers watching Netanyahu’s address noted that Schumer pointedly refused to shake Netanyahu’s hand as he walked down the aisle of the House chamber toward the podium.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, top left, walks past Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., right, as he arrives to speak to a joint meeting of Congress to seek support for Israel’s fight against Hamas and other adversaries, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 24, 2024. Schumer, the first Jewish majority leader in the Senate and the highest-ranking Jewish official in the U.S., has said Netanyahu has “lost his way” and is an obstacle to peace in the region. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Chuck Schumer refuses to shake hands with @netanyahu pic.twitter.com/kB5nG05CRd
— Joel Fischer (@realJoelFischer) July 24, 2024
Schumer tried to explain his behavior to Robert Costa on CBS News’ Face the Nation on Sunday:
ROBERT COSTA: Sticking with the Middle East, Senator, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just in Washington. You were part of the formal bipartisan invitation to have him come to Washington.
Yet there was video of you not shaking his hand when he was on the floor on Capitol Hill. Why not? Why did you not shake his hand?
SENATOR CHUCK SCHUMER: Well, look, you know, I went to this speech, because the relationship between Israel and America is ironclad, and I wanted to show that.
But, at the same time, as everyone knows, I have serious disagreements with the way Benjamin Netanyahu has conducted these policies.
Refusing to shake the hand of a visiting foreign leader, especially one who is democratically elected, is a serious breach of protocol.
That is especially so when the entire business of Congress is handling “serious disagreements” over policy, which do not prevent party leaders from shaking hands.
But Schumer did, in fact, shake Netanyahu’s hand earlier, in private.
Here is video footage (credit: Roi Avraham and Ben Peretz of Israel’s Government Press Office):
Here is the photograph (credit: Amos Ben-Gersom / GPO):
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer shakes the hand of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a private meeting in the Capitol with congressional leaders ahead of Netanyahu’s address, July 24, 2024 (Amos Ben-Gershom / GPO)
In March, Schumer delivered a speech from the floor of the Senate in which he called for Netanyahu to be ousted through new elections — a speech that earned him a rare rebuke from American Jewish leaders.
Refusing to shake Netanyahu’s hand in public places Schumer alongside athletes from some Arab and Muslim countries at the Olympics in Paris, who have refused to shake the hands of Israeli competitors.
And yet he did shake Netanyahu’s hand in private, suggesting that Schumer sought to send a public signal to anti-Israel voters in the Democratic Party while adopting a different posture behind closed doors.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of “”The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days,” available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of “The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency,” now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.