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Senate Majority Leader Charles E. Schumer on Thursday called for new elections in Israel to oust Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and “radical right-wing Israelis in government and society.”
The New York Democrat said current Israeli leaders are among the “major obstacles” to “lasting peace” between Israel and Palestinians by way of achieving a two-state solution after the war.
A 45-minute floor speech from Mr. Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish elected U.S. official, offered a stark warning that broad support among Democrats for the longtime U.S. ally could be wearing thin over Israel’s handling of its war with Hamas.
“The Netanyahu coalition no longer fits the needs of Israel after Oct. 7,” he said. “The world has changed — radically — since then, and the Israeli people are being stifled right now by a governing vision that is stuck in the past.”
The senator railed against Mr. Netanyahu, accusing him of having “all too frequently bowed to the demands of extremists.” He called for new Israeli elections and warned that if Mr. Netanyahu and his coalition government continue “to pursue dangerous and inflammatory policies,” the U.S. “will have no choice but to play a more active role in shaping Israeli policy by using our leverage to change the present course.”
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The U.S. provides Israel with $3.3 billion in annual military aid, and Congress is considering legislation that would provide a one-time tranche of $14.1 billion after the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks by Hamas. But a growing number of progressives want to slash the assistance or attach conditions as Israel turns the Gaza Strip, home to Hamas, into rubble.
“I will always respect his extraordinary bravery for Israel on the battlefield as a younger man. I believe in his heart his highest priority is the security of Israel,” Mr. Schumer said. “However, I also believe Prime Minister Netanyahu has lost his way by allowing his political survival to take precedence over the best interests of Israel.”
The rebuke and call for new elections elicited sharp rebuke from Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. The Kentucky Republican slammed Mr. Schumer for advocating for the ouster of a duly elected foreign ally.
“It is grotesque and hypocritical for Americans who hyperventilate about foreign interference in our own democracy to call for the removal of a democratically elected leader of Israel,” Mr. McConnell said. “The Democratic Party doesn’t have an anti-Bibi problem. It has an anti-Israel problem.”
Mr. Netanyahu has repeatedly rejected Palestinian sovereignty and a two-state solution once the war concludes.
Democrats in Washington, including President Biden, are facing political pressure from their left flank to demand a permanent cease-fire as the humanitarian disaster and civilian death toll worsen in Gaza.
SEE ALSO: Speaker Johnson, other GOP leaders rip Schumer’s Israel remarks
The other two obstacles Mr. Schumer cited were Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas with its Palestinian supporters.
He blasted news outlets for giving “Hamas a pass” by omitting its “shameful” fighting strategy of using civilians as human shields. Mr. Schumer also took a swing at far-left pro-Palestinian protests that have erupted across the U.S.
“When protesters decry the loss of Palestinian life, but never condemn this perfidy or the loss of Israeli lives, it confounds and deeply troubles the vast majority of Jewish and non-Jewish Americans alike who support the state of Israel,” Mr. Schumer said.
Both sides of the decadeslong conflict are “impeding the peace process,” he concluded.
“Too many Israelis who say they want a two-state solution don’t acknowledge how the amount and extent of expanding settlements render that a virtual impossibility,” Mr. Schumer said. “And too many Palestinians who say they want a two-state solution don’t acknowledge how their insistence on an unequivocal right of return is a fatal impediment to progress.”
• Ramsey Touchberry can be reached at rtouchberry@washingtontimes.com.
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