Thread by @AIPAC

NOW: Senate Democratic Leader @SenSchumer addresses #AIPAC2020.

#AIPACProud

@SenSchumer "I want to recognize your distinguished guests and all of the members of AIPAC, who keep this organization strong, especially my fellow New Yorkers. Thank you for all you do to strengthen not just Israel but the United States.

@SenSchumer To the students who are here with us tonight, please stand up. We want to applaud you.

There are more than 4,000 students here at AIPAC. God bless every one of you.

@SenSchumer You know, I have a grandson, Noah, who is one-year-old.

When he is older, I hope that he is like you—the students in the crowd today—who come here to do what you are doing now: helping educate the world about the history of our people.

@SenSchumer Many of your peers do not know the long history and struggles of the Jewish people—why it’s so important to have a strong Israel and a strong American-Israeli relationship. But you will teach them, and, one day, God willing, my grandson will too.

@SenSchumer Tonight, I wish to speak about my support for Israel, the need to maintain a strong bipartisan relationship, and the threats that Jewish communities across the globe are facing.

@SenSchumer There’s no question that the state of Israel has come a long way in the past 70 years. But threats to the land of Israel and the Jewish people are growing, and have been, for some time.

@SenSchumer The international community at the United Nations never misses an opportunity to single out Israel for condemnation.

Hamas is still intent on kidnapping and killing Israeli citizens;

An increasingly desperate Iranian regime plots to undermine Israel in every way;

@SenSchumer Iranian proxies are operating in Lebanon, Iraq, Yemen, and Syria;

And the chaos in Syria and the Middle East sits on Israel’s doorstep.

A little over a week ago, rockets landed in a playground in Sderot—a playground.

@SenSchumer So my friends, the safety and security of Israel must always be a priority of the United States.

And as long as I am a leader in the Senate, support for Israel’s security in the Senate will be non-negotiable.

@SenSchumer But we can only hope to defend Israel from these threats so long as we maintain a united front, Democrats, and Republicans together. The winds of politics are always changing. They blow fiercely during election years like this one.

@SenSchumer But no matter how fiercely the winds may blow, we must not let support for Israel be caught up in the maelstrom. The friendship between our two countries must be unshakeable.

The bonds between our countries must be unbreakable.

@SenSchumer Support for the friendship between our countries must not depend on which party you belong to.

No matter what: we must keep the U.S.-Israel relationship bipartisan. This has been a mission for me, and it must be for you and all friends of Israel.

@SenSchumer So whenever I led a piece of pro-Israel legislation, even when Democrats had the majority in the House or Senate, I always included a Republican co-sponsor because the foundation of our relationship must remain bipartisan, as it has been for decades.

@SenSchumer I’m proud that the overwhelming majority of Democrats support a strong U.S.-Israel relationship—we always have and we always will.

@SenSchumer Of course, there are those who seek to use Israel as a way to score political points. They treat Israel as another talking point, another way to stoke resentment between the two parties in Washington.

@SenSchumer These voices do a disservice to both Israel and the United States. Our politics may be more polarized than ever, but it is incumbent upon all of us who care about the U.S-Israel relationship to keep it bipartisan.

@SenSchumer The relationship between the United States and Israel transcends any single political party, any single election, any single president.

@SenSchumer Just remember: the security assistance that AIPAC champions every year is passed by both Democrats and Republicans in Congress because both parties believe that Israel must maintain a qualitative military edge to defend herself.

@SenSchumer Iron Dome, David’s Sling, and Arrow-3 missile defense systems, all of which defend Israel from attack, are funded by both Democrats and Republicans in Congress.

@SenSchumer The Taylor Force Act, which stops funding that directly benefits the Palestinian Authority until it ceases payments to imprisoned terrorists or their families, was passed by Democrats and Republicans in Congress.

@SenSchumer A resolution opposing BDS and efforts to delegitimize Israel passed the Democratically-controlled House with 398 votes, the vast majority of Democrats and Republicans united.

And that's how it is, and how it must continue to be.

@SenSchumer Americans from across the political spectrum – Democrats and Republicans, liberals, conservatives, and independents – must continue to stand united in their support for Israel. It’s in America’s interest to stand with Israel!

@SenSchumer But our ardent support for Israel does not mean that we lose sight of the goal, supported by Israeli Prime Ministers and Presidents of both parties, of two-states living side by side in peace and security.

@SenSchumer I have no illusions about the prospects of peace at this moment in our history. I have spoken on this stage before about the history of intransigence, by Palestinian leaders and too many in the Arab world, to recognize Israel, the only Jewish state.

@SenSchumer Sadly, while some progress has been made, those days are not yet behind us.

@SenSchumer But the possibility for a two-state solution must still be maintained—a two-state solution that ensures a safe, secure, and democratic Israel that can live side-by-side with a demilitarized Palestinian state that provides dignity and self-determination for the Palestinian people.

@SenSchumer The only way such a solution can be achieved is through direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians. Not by international pressure campaigns. Not by the BDS movement. Not by solutions imposed by foreign capitals.

@SenSchumer Unilateral action taken by either side could diminish the prospects of future peace. Unilateral action might even foreclose the pathway to peace. That has always proudly been AIPAC’s position, as it should be.

@SenSchumer Real diplomacy through direct negotiations, while a long and arduous road, is the only path for a durable peace between the Israelis and Palestinians.

We must not shut the door on the peace all of us in this room want to see. We must keep that prospect alive.

@SenSchumer The Administration should resume funding to organizations that bring Israelis and Palestinians together.

And I join AIPAC in supporting bipartisan legislation by @ChrisCoons, @LindseyGrahamSC, @timkaine, and @SenCoryGardner known as the “partnership fund for peace,”

@SenSchumer @ChrisCoons @LindseyGrahamSC @timkaine @SenCoryGardner which supports joint economic ventures between Israelis, Palestinians, and Americans, as well as programs that bring the next generation of Israeli’s and Palestinian’s together.

@SenSchumer @ChrisCoons @LindseyGrahamSC @timkaine @SenCoryGardner I am proud AIPAC supports these efforts. The extremists on both sides who pretend that the other side doesn’t exist, or is just going to disappear, are living in a state of denial. Together, we must always strive for a secure peace.

@SenSchumer @ChrisCoons @LindseyGrahamSC @timkaine @SenCoryGardner ...My friends, this will be a difficult year. The fires of partisanship already burn brightly, and a national election will douse fuel on those flames.

We must never—never—let that partisanship poison the bipartisan support Israel has always enjoyed.

@SenSchumer @ChrisCoons @LindseyGrahamSC @timkaine @SenCoryGardner We must never—never—let support for Israel be sharpened into just another partisan shiv, another tool in the arsenal of political ad peddlers and party strategists.

That is the path to ruin.

@SenSchumer @ChrisCoons @LindseyGrahamSC @timkaine @SenCoryGardner The Jewish State of Israel has been able to count on the support of the United States from the days it drew its very first breath when President Truman became the first to recognize Eretz Yisrael as a member of the family of nations.

@SenSchumer @ChrisCoons @LindseyGrahamSC @timkaine @SenCoryGardner It was another Democratic president, President Kennedy, who said that “Friendship for Israel is not a partisan matter. It is a national commitment.”

Those words, that national commitment, has inspired me my whole life.

@SenSchumer @ChrisCoons @LindseyGrahamSC @timkaine @SenCoryGardner From the time I listened on my radio to the newscasts of the Six Days War, praying to Hashem that Israel would survive;

@SenSchumer @ChrisCoons @LindseyGrahamSC @timkaine @SenCoryGardner To the time I listened to my predecessor in the Senate, Senator Moynihan, go before the United Nations as our Ambassador to defend Zionism and condemn the hypocrisy of the United Nations;

@SenSchumer @ChrisCoons @LindseyGrahamSC @timkaine @SenCoryGardner Up until this very moment…I have never once doubted the commitment of our nation to the support of Israel.

I intend to keep it that way.

My friends, we are going to have work to do.

@SenSchumer @ChrisCoons @LindseyGrahamSC @timkaine @SenCoryGardner But Israel, the small sliver of land that has represented the hopes of the Jewish people for over two millennia, is worth the effort.

And I swear to you that as long as I am Democratic leader,

as long as Hashem breathes air into my lungs,

@SenSchumer @ChrisCoons @LindseyGrahamSC @timkaine @SenCoryGardner I will do everything in my power to maintain the unshakeable,

unbreakable friendship between the United States and Israel.

Am Yisroel Chai. The Jewish people live.

Long may they live. Thank you, AIPAC!"

@SenSchumer at #AIPAC2020
#AIPACProud