Originally published in the Jewish News Syndicate.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) recently asserted that U.S. President Donald Trump regards Jews as “transactional” and that he tolerates antisemitism. Schumer placed himself in the role of arbiter, implying that he, as a Jew, truly understands Jews and what they need and want.

This contention is not only false, it’s infuriating. Although Schumer is Jewish and Trump is not, in a match-up between the two regarding who better understands, appreciates and has done more for the Jewish people, the president wins in a landslide.

Compare the reactions of their very different responses to protests by Hamas supporters on U.S. campuses in the aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in southern Israel. Students called to “Globalize the Intifada,” demanding a similar massacre against Jews in this country. Jewish students were terrified, and rightfully so. They were threatened on their campuses, in study halls and dormitories. They were dehumanized in the classroom, barricaded in libraries by aggressive mobs of their fellow students and subject to physical attacks and violence.

Trump is not just vocal in expressing his strong condemnation; his administration is withdrawing billions of dollars in grants and other supports for universities that have failed to uphold their obligations under Title VI, thereby allowing, and in some cases encouraging, antisemitic incitement. Students from foreign countries who violated the terms of their visas are being expelled, not just from their schools but from the country.

What was Schumer’s reaction to the existential threats facing his coreligionists on campus, and to the safety and security of Jews in America amid record-breaking instances of antisemitism?

Having achieved the highest elected office a Jew has ever held in the United States, you might have assumed that he would find himself at the forefront of confronting this wave of hate. Schumer should properly be leading the denunciations of bigotry and efforts to hold university administrators accountable.

Unfortunately, that assumption would be grievously incorrect. Schumer demonstrated himself to be part of the problem and not the solution. During the height of the protests, he advised Columbia University’s leaders that Democrats would not hold them accountable for enabling college antisemitism and would not scrutinize their behavior. He even counseled them to wait for the GOP-led storm to pass.

The upcoming deportation of Mahmoud Khalil is a good case study. Khalil, a Syrian-born Algerian citizen, was the chief spokesman of the Columbia University anti-Jewish protests, one of the leaders of the often violent and threatening demonstrators. Following the policies of the president, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio initiated deportation proceedings against Khalil, who is a permanent resident. The Trump administration broadcast a clear and unmistakable message that it will not tolerate anyone, especially foreigners, who want to harm America’s most vulnerable minority.

This should have been applauded, and indeed it was, by responsible leaders who seek a peaceful America and equal rights for all its citizens, even its Jewish citizens. Schumer, however, had different priorities. In an outrageous post to his X account, he demanded that the Trump administration prove that Khalil violated a “criminal law,” though there is no such requirement for revoking the visa or residency of a noncitizen.

In holding universities accountable for inexcusably tolerating Jew hatred on campus, it is Trump, not Schumer, who has led with fairness, intolerance for bigotry and a demand that wrongdoers face consequences.

Although the administration did not propose penalties against any college that protected its Jewish students, many Democrats chose to score political points at the expense of the threatened Jews of America by casting Trump’s act as an attack on higher education. Sadly, but perhaps predictably, Schumer sided with these members of his party against the members of his people. Although the very future of Jewish existence in America is at stake and the cherished ideal of America being a haven for all minorities is threatened, Schumer chose to focus on the effect Trump’s order would have on higher education instead of the impact that it would have on his own people.

By not protesting the shameful behavior of those attacking Jews on campus, Schumer showed colors no one should want to see. He gave Hamas propagandists support in Congress and a huge victory in the arena of public perception. By prioritizing his political career over basic morality and compassion for his people, Schumer cemented a dishonorable reputation that he is a Jew by birth and not by deed.

Photo Credit: Chuck Schumer by Gregory Hauenstein, with CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 license on Flickr.