Subject: Schumer's speech
So, Chuck Schumer lit into Netanyahu the other day - criticizing him directly, calling for Israel to hold new elections and replace him, etc. A takedown even more remarkable given that it was delivered by the highest-ranking Jewish official in the U.S. government and generally a staunch supporter of Israel.

But I'm still trying to figure out what the purpose of the speech actually was. I mean, ostensibly it's to try to change Israel's direction in Gaza - but it's not going to do that at all. It's almost certainly not going to change anything about how Israel is prosecuting the conflict with Hamas, because Israeli public opinion is solidly behind what Netanyahu is doing (which is how he's able to keep his unity war government together). Anyone who got elected in his place would certainly follow much the same approach to the fight. I suppose there might be situations where it's marginally useful to try to create the misimpression that Israel's attacks in Gaza are because of Netanyahu personally (or his coalition), and not because that's where Israeli public opinion is - but I can't think of too many, and nothing worth really doing this.

And while it's not likely to change Israel's policy or tactics, it's also not likely to have any of the effects on Netanyahu that Schumer seems to want. Netanyahu's already a political dead duck - 10/7 happened on his watch, the public already hates him (more or less), and there's enormous public support for new elections to get him out. So Schumer's criticism doesn't make it any more likely that he'll lose the next election. And in fact, there's a pretty good argument that this just hands Netanyahu the one lifeline he might be able to use to save himself, which is to run against global interference in Israel's security needs.

The only other thing I can think of is that it's a sop to parts of the Democratic base - a way to be very critical without criticizing Israel, and a way to take partial credit for something that faction wants that's going to happen anyway. Netanyahu is almost certainly going to lose the next election anyway. Why not take a swing at him and claim credit for him getting defeated? The main downside to that is that Netanyahu simply might not call an election until well after the Gaza conflict has shifted out of the active phase, which undermines the benefit of claiming that Democrats helped push him out and makes Schumer look weaker for having been ignored.