Sen. Chuck Schumer demands ‘new election’ in Israel, calls Netanyahu ‘obstacle’ to peace
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer took to the chamber floor Thursday to call for a “new election” in Israel once the Jewish state’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip “starts to wind down,” denouncing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and “radical” members of his security cabinet as an “obstacle” to peace — earning rebukes from Republicans and Israeli leaders alike.
The extraordinary comments by the Brooklyn Democrat, 73, came in response to festering resentment among progressives and far-left Democrats over the Biden administration’s refusal to call for a cease-fire in the five-month-old war, and fears that it could jeopardize the president’s re-election.
In his remarks, amounting to a public call for the leader of a foreign ally to be removed from office, Schumer alleged that Netanyahu and security cabinet members Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir had lost the support of Israelis and a new election was “the only way” to secure the Jewish state’s future.
“Of course, the United States cannot dictate the outcome of an election, nor should we try,” he said. “That is for the Israeli public to decide. A public that I believe understands better than anybody that Israel cannot hope to succeed as a pariah, opposed by the rest of the world.”
“As a lifelong supporter of Israel, it’s become clear to me that the Netanyahu coalition no longer fits the needs of Israel after October 7,” Schumer concluded, though he gave no indication of which leader should take his place.
If Netanyahu remains in power “after the war begins to wind down and continues to pursue dangerous and inflammatory policies that test existing US standards for assistance,” Schumer also said, “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.”
The 81-year-old president has been dogged in the primary elections by tens of thousands of “uncommitted” votes from Democrats who have criticized his support of Israel, most notably in Arab American and Muslim communities in Michigan and Minnesota.
Schumer said he backed a temporary cease-fire in order to provide further humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza, while adding that a permanent halt to fighting “would only allow Hamas to regroup” and delay a two-state solution.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) issued a stern rebuttal following Schumer’s remarks, calling his Democratic counterpart’s criticism of Netanyahu “unprecedented.”
“The Jewish state of Israel deserves an ally that acts like one,” McConnell said in his own floor speech. “And Israel’s unity government and security cabinet deserve the deference befitting a sovereign, democratic country.”
“The primary obstacles to peace in Israel’s region are genocidal terrorists, like Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, who slaughter innocent people, and corrupt leaders of the Palestinian Authority who have repeatedly rejected peace deals from multiple Israeli governments,” the Republican leader added.
“Foreign observers who cannot keep these clear distinctions ought to refrain from weighing in. 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.”
Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition won 64 of the 120 seats in Israel’s parliament, the Knesset, in the most recent national election held in November 2022.
The prime minister and Knesset serve four-year terms but have often held early elections when coalitions break down.
Netanyahu has firmly rejected talk of elections or a two-state solution amid the Israeli military’s effort to eliminate Hamas.
Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Herzog blasted Schumer for issuing a “counterproductive” message.
“Israel is a sovereign democracy,” Herzog posted on X. “It is unhelpful, all the more so as Israel is at war against the genocidal terror organization Hamas, to comment on the domestic political scene of a democratic ally. It is counterproductive to our common goals.”
Former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, a Netanyahu rival, added in his own X post: “Regardless of our political opinion, we strongly oppose external political intervention in Israel’s internal affairs.”
“We are an independent nation, not a banana republic,” Bennett added. “With the threat of terrorism on its way to the West, it would be best if the international community would assist Israel in its just war, thereby also protecting their countries.”
Israeli opposition leader Benny Gantz said Schumer’s statement had been a “mistake,” writing on X: “Israel is a strong democracy, and only its citizens will determine its leadership and future. Any external intervention in the matter is incorrect and unacceptable.”
“It’s not for me to comment on what Senator Schumer said about the Prime Minister of Israel,” United Nations spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric also said in a press briefing Thursday, while adding that the global peacekeeping organization would “deal with the government in power,” as with any nation.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) also weighed in from the House Republican retreat at the Greenbrier in White Sulphur Springs, W.Va., where Herzog will be speaking with lawmakers.
“We want to speak very clearly and concisely to say that this is not only highly inappropriate, it’s just plain wrong for an American leader to play such a divisive role in Israeli politics while our closest ally in the region is in an existential battle for its very survival,” Johnson said.
Johnson and other House Republican leaders also accused the White House and Democrats of having supported Iran and its terrorist proxies like Hamas, while not forcefully enough calling for the overthrow of jihadist leaders.
“If you wanted to focus on elections overseas, maybe he should have called for an election in Gaza instead,” Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) added, while conference chairwoman Elise Stefanik (R-NY) slammed Schumer for “meddling in Israeli sovereign elections” in a move that would be “a boon to the Iranian regime.”
As the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in the US, Schumer spoke passionately about the “grave threats Israel faces” and called for Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to “step down.”
He also excoriated Hamas and Palestinians who have propped up the terror group in Gaza for having “undermined any hope for peace at every turn,” and declaring that a two-state solution would be the only lasting solution.
“It was Hamas who began its vicious campaign of suicide bombings against innocent Israelis [in the 1990s] to derail the nation’s peace process in Oslo; it was Hamas who assassinated more moderate Palestinian political representatives in Gaza in 2007; it is Hamas who has held Gaza under repressive undemocratic rule for close to two decades; and it is Hamas who targeted those brave Gazans who have spoken out against its actions or tried to bridge the divide between Israelis and Palestinians,” Schumer said.
The Oct. 7 terror attack was the deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust, with Hamas terrorists killing more than 1,200 people, including 33 US citizens, and taking hundreds captive. At least 130 are believed to be held hostage in Gaza, including five Americans.
More than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed since the Israel Defense Forces declared war against the terror group, according to the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, which does not distinguish between civilian and terrorist deaths.
Schumer blamed Hamas for its “central role in the bloodshed” and said Israel was “by no means the only one responsible for the immense civilian toll,” though he did not give a precise number.
“It bothers me deeply that most media outlets covering this war, and many protesters opposing it, place the blame for civilian casualties entirely on Israel,” he pointed out, noting the terror group’s use of Palestinians as “human shields” was “central to their fighting strategy.”
But he also placed blame on Israel for “falling short of upholding these distinctly Jewish values that we hold so dear,” before reproaching Netanyahu directly: “We must be better than our enemies, lest we become them.”
“I have known Prime Minister Netanyahu for a very long time. While we have vehemently disagreed on many occasions, I will always respect his extraordinary bravery for Israel on the battlefield as a younger man,” Schumer said of Israel’s leader.
“I believe in his heart, he has as his highest priority the security of Israel. However, I also believe Prime Minister Netanyahu has lost his way by allowing his political survival to take the precedence over the best interests of Israel,” he further said, hitting the PM for having “been too willing to tolerate the civilian toll in Gaza, which is pushing support for Israel worldwide to historic lows.”
Following the backlash, Schumer began posting snippets of his more than 40-minute speech on X in a bid to clean up the mess, saying that the US “cannot dictate the outcome of an election” and “Israel has the right to choose its own leaders,” while emphasizing the Jewish state has a “choice” and warning “[t]here needs to be a fresh debate about the future.”
