Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) speaking at Yad Vashem, 24 February 2023 (Photo: Office of Sen. Schumer)

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on Friday promised that the US Senate would give Israel its “fullest support” during a wreath laying ceremony at Yad Vashem, Israel’s official Holocaust memorial.

“As Senate Majority Leader — the highest ranking Jewish American elected official in history — I stand here today in the shadow of my ancestors who perished in the Holocaust to promise that as long as Hashem breathes air into my lungs, the United States Senate will stand behind Israel with our fullest support,” Schumer said.

Schumer is leading the delegation of seven other Democratic Senators on an international tour that also included visits to Germany, Pakistan, and India.

In Israel, the delegation met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as well as Israeli President Isaac Herzog, and it follows a Republican Senate delegation led by Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) and House delegations from each party earlier in the week.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu told Sen. McConnell that it was good to see him and that he was a true friend of Israel,” a readout from the Prime Minister’s office said. “The Prime Minister added that he deeply appreciated the fact that Sen. McConnell and his colleagues – some of whom he has known for many years – were among Israel’s best friends.”

Netanyahu’s readout of his meeting with Schumer “stressed the importance of the bipartisan ties between Israel and the US” and “discussed the struggle against Iran, as well as the Abraham Accords and the possibilities for expanding them.”