One of the things that startles Jews and gentiles alike about the Jewish community in America is how many sects and factions and streams and organizations it has. “In our disunity is our strength,” our Editor has been heard to quip. Yet every once in a while the whole sprawling crew comes together for an important pronouncement, and that is the job of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

Which it performed brilliantly today in issuing a devastating response to Senator Schumer’s speech attacking Prime Minister Netanyahu as the premier is preparing to lead his country into the last phase of the battle against Hamas. It was one of the most vainglorious, obnoxious, and inappropriate speeches ever heard in the Senate. Mr. Schumer demanded that Mr. Netanyahu — in the middle of the war — call an election.

Mr. Schumer’s speech has already been widely criticized, in Israel and America. As Mr. Schumer spoke, after all, Mr. Netanyahu was huddled with his wartime government. It is a multi-party, national unity coalition that reflects the fact that the normally fractious Israelis are of one mind in respect of the war. They support the war aims of defeating Hamas and extirpating it from the Middle East.

Yet there was Mr. Schumer in the Senate, declaring that “Netanyahu’s coalition no longer fits the needs of Israel after October 7.” He echoed, as we observed last week, Vice President Harris’s call on Americans to “not conflate the Israeli government with the Israeli people.” This is the context in which the Conference of Presidents hauled off and, after meeting by Zoom with Mr. Schumer, issued its statement denouncing his remarks.

It began by acknowledging Mr. Schumer’s achievements over the decades. “Even so, the pro-Israel community and our membership continue to have deep reservations about Senator Schumer’s speech on the Senate floor last week.” It said its members “believe that at a time when Israel is fighting an existential war, on the embers of the 1,200 innocents massacred on October 7, it is not a time for public criticisms that serve only to empower the detractors of Israel.”

And which “foster greater divisiveness, when unity is so desperately needed.” The Conference statement said its member organizations, “representing the broad swath of American Jewry, remain distressed that an American official would tell a sovereign, democratic ally when to conduct its electoral process and assert that the U.S. should possibly ‘play a more active role in shaping Israeli policy by using our leverage to change present course.’”

“In actuality,” the Conference continued, “what is really needed is U.S. leverage to bolster and support the Jewish state in this time of need. We find it most unfortunate that Senator Schumer’s stated barriers to peace included the Hamas Terror Army and the democratically elected Prime Minister of Israel in the same breath. Hamas’ unwillingness to release the hostages, lay down its arms, and surrender are the actual barriers to peace.”

The thing to mark about this is that the conference has hosted many disagreements — it is a Jewish conference, after all — but has always dealt with them through confidential discussions among its leaders. It was a slap at the public nature of Mr. Schumer’s effort to undercut Mr. Netanyahu, whose heroic brother, Jonathan, fell in battle for the Jewish state and who is himself a combat veteran of Israel’s existential struggles.

The statement today is from a conference that encompasses some 50 organizations, conservative and liberal factions, religious and secular streams of Jewry and dozens of organizations in between. We’ve covered the Conference for more than 40 years and have come to admire it greatly. It was founded during the Eisenhower years precisely to try to give a definitive view of the community writ large. Its verdict on Mr. Schumer is illuminating and newsworthy.