2024-03-14 18:01:11
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday called on Israel to hold new elections, adding that he believes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has “lost his way and poses an obstacle to peace in the region amid a growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza” on the Senate floor, Thursday.
Announcement
Schumer strongly criticized Netanyahu in a 40-minute speech. Schumer explained the extremist government coalition that reduces Israel’s popularity around the world, according to him.
“Israel cannot survive if it becomes a pariah,” Schumer said.
This comes at a time when Democrats are being criticized because of the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.
Notably, Schumer visited Israel just days after October 7, and subsequently delivered a lengthy speech on the Senate floor in December, denouncing “the brazen and widespread anti-Semitism of his ilk.”
In the first reaction from an American Jewish institution, Haley Soifer, CEO of the Jewish Democratic Council of America, said that Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer “did something big” when he called for elections in Israel.
“He said what the vast majority of American Jews are thinking regarding our deep commitment to Israel and concern about its future as a safe, Jewish, and democratic state,” Soifer wrote on the X website.
US Senator Senator Elizabeth Warren also called for a halt to the supply of weapons to Israel, considering that “Netanyahu’s right-wing government” is preventing humanitarian aid from reaching Gaza.
Warren said that the United States should not continue to supply bombs to Israel, adding that the Palestinians are starving and need immediate aid.
Commenting on Schumer’s statements, Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said that Netanyahu is “deliberately losing Israel’s major supporters in the United States.”
The next Knesset elections are scheduled for October 2026. Many Israelis hold Netanyahu responsible for failing to protect Israelis.
Vice President Kamala Harris met with Schumer, Benny Gantz, last week in Washington, who is Netanyahu’s most prominent competitor and, according to Israeli newspapers, is more popular than the Prime Minister.
Gantz joined Netanyahu’s war cabinet shortly after the Hamas attack, and is expected to leave the government once the heaviest fighting ends.
Additional sources • dad
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