The liberal Manhattan Democrat said Netanyahu has done more damage to his own people than anyone since a Jewish monarch of the Hasmonean dynasty who invited Roman invaders into the Holy Land to help him defeat an internal rebellion in the first century BC.
“He only got one competitor for the worst Jewish leader in history: that would be (a king who) invited in the Romans,” Nadler told Politico in a new podcast.
Nadler’s unflattering comparison was to John Hyrcanus II, a weak Jewish leader who ruled over a portion of the modern-day West Bank near Jerusalem several decades before the time of Jesus.
Hyrcanus II asked his Roman allies to help him defeat a rival Jewish faction but the tactic backfired spectacularly and led to the invaders effectively subjugating the Jews.
Nadler’s pointed remarks came as Sen. Chuck Schumer confirmed that he has no objections to Netanyahu delivering a speech to a joint session of Congress.
Schumer, who has also clashed with Netanyahu, says he will eventually join House Speaker Mike Johnson in issuing a formal invitation to the right-wing Israeli premier, but it remains uncertain when such a speech might take place.
“The timing is being worked out,” Angelo Roefaro, Schumer’s spokesman, said Friday.
Netanyahu hit back at Schumer, saying foreigners like the New Yorker should stay out of internal Israeli politics.
Poster Comment:
2,100 years ago a Jewish leader led his people to Masada, a hill from which there was no exit except to be killed by Roman soldiers.