Pime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasted Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer for “totally inappropriate” comments calling for the election of new leadership in Israel.
It comes amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas operating out of the Palestinian enclave of Gaza, which emerged after terrorists attacked the Jewish state on October 7, 2023.
Schumer said Thursday in an extraordinary 45-minute speech from the Senate that Netanyahu has “lost his way” and has become an “obstacle to peace,” five months after the attacks started the war in Gaza.
Israel’s top elected Jewish official and longtime defender said Netanyahu has placed himself in a coalition of “far-right extremists” and is more interested in his own political survival than a solution.
Netanyahu is pushing back.
“I think what he said is completely inappropriate,” the Israeli prime minister told CNN’s Meet the Press on Sunday morning.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pushes back after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer calls for the election of new leadership in Israel amid the war with Hamas terrorists
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), the highest-ranking Jewish elected official, called Netanyahu an “obstacle to peace” in one of the most scathing U.S. criticisms of Israel since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on the Jewish state.
“It is inappropriate to go to a sister democracy and try to replace the elected leadership there,” he added. “That is something that Israel, the Israeli public, does itself, and we are not a banana republic.”
“I think the only government we have to work on now is the terrorist tyranny in Gaza, the tyranny of Hamas that has murdered more than a thousand Israelis, including several dozen Americans, and is holding Americans and Israelis hostage. That’s what we need to focus on.’
The October 7 attack led to the largest single-day massacre of Jewish people since the Holocaust and ignited a war between Hamas terrorists and Israel with no end in sight.
The White House said Schumer gave them advance notice of his comments and that it “respected his right” to make them. But President Joe Biden’s administration expressed “neither approval nor disapproval” of his position.
Meanwhile, Republicans labeled Schumer’s position “grotesque” and Israel said it was “not helpful” while it was “at war against a genocidal terrorist organization.”
“As a democracy, Israel has the right to choose its own leaders, and we must let the chips fall where they may,” Schumer said in his speech Thursday.
“But the most important thing is that Israelis are given a choice. There must be a new debate about Israel’s future after October 7,” he added.
‘I think the best way to achieve that is to hold elections.’
Netanyahu responded on Sunday with: “As far as what Senator Schumer said, the majority of Israelis support our governments; 82 percent of Americans support Israel over Hamas.”
“The majority of Israelis support the policy we are pursuing – enter Rafah, destroy the remaining Hamas terrorist battalions, ensure that we do not send into Gaza, instead of Hamas, the Palestinian Authority that educates their children towards terrorism and the destruction of Israel.”
“This is a wake-up call for Senator Schumer,” the Prime Minister said, “the majority of Israelis support my government’s policies. It is not a fringe government. It represents policies supported by the majority of the population.”
“If Senator Schumer is against this policy, he is not against me. He stands against the people of Israel,” he said of the New York Democrat and Senate leader’s stunning rebuke.
Schumer was pictured with Netanyahu in 2017. He said in his speech: “As a lifelong supporter of Israel, it has become clear to me: the Netanyahu coalition no longer suits Israel’s needs after October 7.”
A displaced Palestinian man carries containers amid the rubble of houses destroyed by Israeli bombing in the Hamad area, west of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on March 14, 2024
Republican Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell was quick to defend Netanyahu in his comments shortly after Schumer.
‘It’s grotesque. and hypocritical for Americans hyperventilating about foreign interference in our own democracy to call for the removal of Israel’s democratically elected leader. This is unprecedented.’ McConnell said.
Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Herzog said: “Israel is a sovereign democracy. It is futile, especially now that Israel is at war against the genocidal terrorist organization Hamas, to comment on the domestic political scene of a democratic ally. It is counterproductive to our common goals.”
The war broke out after Hamas killed 1,200 people in a terrorist attack on Israel on October 7 and took 253 hostages to Gaza.
Schumer also criticized Palestinians who support Hamas, and said Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas should also step aside.
“For there to be any hope for peace in the future, Abbas must resign and be replaced by a new generation of Palestinian leaders who will work to achieve peace with a Jewish state,” Schumer said.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said: “We had advance notice that he would make these comments.
“We fully respect his right to make these comments. This wasn’t about approval or disapproval at all, but he did give us a heads up. Leader Schumer feels strong. We’ll let him talk about his thought process.’
Displaced Palestinians walk through a rubble-filled street in the Hamad area, west of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip
Schumer’s harsh criticism follows efforts by President Joe Biden and Democrats to increase pressure on Netanyahu to protect Palestinian civilians as he continues his offensive.
The Biden administration has also called for a temporary ceasefire to get aid to the Palestinians and allow the release of hostages captured by Hamas.
Netanyahu has vowed to continue fighting until Hamas is destroyed.
But Democrats are beginning to question his motives, prompting Schumer to issue some of his most scathing criticisms yet.
Schumer added: “He (Netanyahu) has been too willing to tolerate the civilian toll in Gaza. Israel cannot survive if it becomes a pariah.
“As a lifelong supporter of Israel, it has become clear to me: the Netanyahu coalition no longer fits Israel’s needs after October 7.
“The world has changed – radically – since then, and the Israeli people are currently being suffocated by a government vision stuck in the past.”
Schumer said the only solution is “a demilitarized Palestinian state living side by side with Israel in equal measure of peace, security, prosperity and dignity.”
Netanyahu has rejected the idea of a two-state solution because he believes it would allow Hamas to maintain its presence and threaten Israel’s future.
Schumer’s comments prompted an immediate response from Republicans, who called his speech “inappropriate and offensive.”
“The last thing Israel needs is the ‘foreign election interference’ that Democrats here so often decry,” said Republican Senator Tom Cotton.
US President Joe Biden is welcomed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he visits Israel amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Tel Aviv, Israel, October 18, 2023
“Furthermore, the most important election that concerns Chuck Schumer is not Israel’s, but our elections, because the rampant anti-Semitism that the Democratic Party has allowed to fester within its ranks is deeply unpopular with the pro-Israel American public.”
White House National Security Spokesman John Kirby said he would let Schumer “address his comments” when asked about the speech.
“We remain focused on ensuring Israel has everything it needs to defend itself, while doing everything we can to prevent civilian casualties,” Kirby added.
“We’re still focused, laser-focused, on trying to broker a temporary ceasefire so we can free the hostages and get more help, and that’s where our heads are at right now.”
Schumer and other leading Democrats, including Biden, are facing intense criticism from their party over Washington’s unconditional support for Israel, given the impact on Palestinian civilians of the Israeli attack on Gaza.