Israel-Hamas war: Schumer plans Thursday vote backing Israel, seeks 'biggest package possible'

WASHINGTON — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said he plans to hold a vote Thursday to pass a U.S. Senate resolution supporting Israel and that he expects the Senate to approve a major package of aid to Israel in the next few weeks.

Schumer (D-N.Y.) said he also plans to hold a Senate vote next week to confirm former U.S. Treasury Secretary Jack Lew as U.S. ambassador to Israel and will try to fill vacancies caused by a Republican senator who has blocked appointments to protest Defense Department abortion policies.

"It is my view, which the president agreed with, is that we have the biggest package possible and pass by a big bipartisan margin in the Senate,” Schumer said in an interview in his office in the U.S. Capitol Wednesday.  

During his trip to Israel last weekend, Schumer said, he spoke with President Joe Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and determined the best thing to do is to “give Israel everything it needs,” including military, intelligence, diplomatic and humanitarian assistance.

Expects Biden aid proposal this week

Schumer said he expects Biden to deliver his proposal for the aid package to him Thursday or Friday. Schumer said he would move ahead with it despite the disarray among majority Republicans in the House and their inability to elect a new speaker.

“Who knows what they'll do?” Schumer said of House Republicans. “But it'll put a lot more pressure on them if the Senate has passed something.”

Schumer said the aid package would include funding for Israel, Ukraine, and, to win some Republican votes, aid to Taiwan and money for U.S. border issues. The total cost could be about $100 billion, according to some reports.

Schumer primed senators for the vote on the resolution and aid for Israel with a classified briefing Wednesday by the U.S. director of national intelligence, the secretaries of state and defense and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Attack transforms Schumer agenda

The deadly Hamas attack on Israel that began Oct. 7 and the looming Israeli military ground assault on Gaza has transformed Schumer’s agenda to focus on steps ranging from bolstering Israel, helping free hostages held by Hamas and evacuating U.S. citizens in Israel.

Schumer said he learned about the Hamas attack on CNN while in China with a bipartisan group of six senators on a planned trip to that country, South Korea and Japan two weeks ago.

Schumer said that publicly he nudged Chinese leaders to express more support for Israel. In private, Schumer said he asked China President Xi Jinping to pressure Iran not to expand the war in Israel and Gaza, and Xi said he would pass it along.

Schumer said he cut the trip short to prepare to go to Israel with four senators.

While in Israel, Schumer’s group had to run to bomb shelters twice because of Hamas missiles. Nonetheless, he urged Biden to go to Israel this week. “I felt I had to be there, and Joe Biden — to his everlasting credit — felt the same way,” he said.

For Schumer, the first Jewish Senate majority leader and the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in U.S. history, the Hamas attack cuts close to home. On Wednesday, Schumer called it “personal.”

In his opening remarks on the Senate floor Tuesday, Schumer called the attack on Israel by Hamas “the deadliest single day for Jews since the Holocaust.” Schumer recalled how the Nazis in 1941 gunned down his great-grandmother and others in a small town in today's Ukraine.

Urges humane treatment of Palestinians

Schumer said he has urged Israeli leaders to treat Palestinians humanely and is pushing for U.S. humanitarian aid for them. And he bemoaned the deadly explosion Tuesday at the al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza. “Every loss of human life is horrible,” Schumer said.

But he pointed to early U.S. and Israeli intelligence indicating the Hamas-allied group Islamic Jihad had misfired a missile that caused the blast that destroyed the hospital.

Schumer also condemned protests that equate Israel with Hamas at his alma mater, Harvard, other colleges and even at his Brooklyn home Friday night.

“False equivalence is outrageous. It's not the same. Hamas is a vicious terrorist organization. Israel is a democracy,” Schumer said.

Also Wednesday, Gov. Kathy Hochul, on her first international trip as governor, visited Kibbutz Shefayim on the Mediterranean coast, where a hotel has been converted into a shelter for residents of Kfar Aza, a kibbutz that was attacked by Hamas fighters.

Avihai Brodutch recalled a text message he received from his wife during the attack. “They’re coming,” she wrote. Brodutch said his wife was taken to Gaza by Hamas, along with their children, ranging in age from 4 to 10.

"The first thing that should be done is to bring them back," Brodutch said of hostages taken the day of the attack. "My wife and kids, they shouldn't be part of this conflict."

“I still have hope, but I need help from people like you,” he told Hochul.

“Your pain becomes our pain,” Hochul told him. “We’ll make sure to raise your voices.”

With Michael Gormley