In his strongest speech on the Senate floor, US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu no longer fits the needs of Israel after the Hamas attack on Oct. 7.
His comments were rejected by the PM’s Likud party, affirming that Israel was not a banana republic.
On Thursday, Schumer suggested that Netanyahu risked making the US ally a “pariah” and is an obstacle to peace in the region.
Schumer said the Israeli prime minister has put himself in a coalition of far-right extremists and “as a result, he has been too willing to tolerate the civilian toll in Gaza, which is pushing support for Israel worldwide to historic lows.”
He said on the Senate floor that the “Israeli people are being stifled right now by a governing vision that is stuck in the past.”
“Nobody expects Prime Minister Netanyahu to do the things that must be done to break the cycle of violence, preserve Israel's credibility on the world stage, and work toward a two-state solution,” the Senator argued.
Therefore, he said new elections are the “only way to allow for a healthy and open decision-making process about the future of Israel.”
Schumer added that Netanyahu's government “no longer fits the needs of Israel” five months into a war that began with attacks on Israel by Hamas on Oct. 7.
He then noted it would be a “grave mistake” for Israel to reject a two-state solution and urged negotiators in the Israel-Gaza conflict to do everything possible to secure a ceasefire, free hostages and get aid into Gaza.
While Schumer said he supports a temporary pause in fighting, he added, “I haven’t heard enough Palestinian leaders express anguish about Hamas and other extreme elements of Palestinian society.”
In a direct criticism of Israeli ministers from the far-right, the Senator noted that Netanyahu has put himself in coalition with extremists like Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Ministry of National Security Itamar Ben Gvir, and as a result, he has been too willing to tolerate the civilian toll in Gaza.
“If Netanyahu’s current coalition remains in power after the war begins to wind down, then the United States will have no choice but to play a more active role in shaping Israeli policy by using our leverage to change the present course,” he noted.
We are Not Banana Republic
In a first response to Schumer’s comments, the Likud party of Netanyahu rejected the Senator’s call for new elections in Israel.
The party said Israel was not a banana republic and that the PM’s policy had wide public support.
“Contrary to Schumer's words, the Israeli public supports a total victory over Hamas, rejects any international dictates to establish a Palestinian terrorist state, and opposes the return of the Palestinian Authority to Gaza,” the Likud statement said.
“Senator Schumer is expected to respect Israel's elected government and not undermine it. This is always true, and even more so in wartime,” it added.
For his part, Smotrich rejected Schemer’s call for elections in Israel, saying the US should respect the Israeli democracy.
The statements of Schumer, long a supporter of Israel and the highest-ranking US Jewish elected official, signal the growing frictions between the Biden administration and Netanyahu on how Israel is pursuing its war on Gaza, particularly amid the specter of an Israeli invasion of Rafah.
Also, Democrats have been broadly divided over Biden’s support of Israel since the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks. Biden’s popularity has significantly dropped among Arab and Muslim communities, and therefore would significantly affect his presidential campaign.
In Michigan’s Democratic nominating contest last month, Arab-American activists who backed him in 2020 have vowed to withhold their support, urging primary voters to check "uncommitted" at the ballot box in an early litmus test for how Biden's handling of Gaza could hurt him in the swing state.
