Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) issued an extraordinary demand Thursday for Israel to hold new elections aimed at ousting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom the Biden administration and Democrats dislike.
NBC reported:
Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish official in the U.S., said in remarks on the Senate floor that “the Netanyahu coalition no longer fits the needs of Israel after Oct. 7.”
“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,” Schumer said in what was billed as a major address by the Democratic leader from New York.
Netanyahu has “lost his way,” Schumer continued, “by allowing his political survival to take precedence over the best interests of Israel.” Schumer said that Netanyahu has aligned himself with “far-right extremists” like Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who he said are “pushing support for Israel worldwide to historic lows.”
Schumer has long been a critic of Netanyahu’s, and even attacked Netanyahu during a speech against antisemitism in November. But Thursday’s statement goes much further, interfering brazenly in Israel’s democratic politics — an action that, if taken by any foreign country against the United States, would be denounced as foreign election interference.
Netanyahu, who was briefly replaced by a center-left coalition, made a political comeback and was elected in November 2022 with a right-wing coalition that had one of the largest majorities in the recent electoral history of the Jewish state.
Democrats have resented Netanyahu ever since he publicly opposed President Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran, which gave billions of dollars to the Iranian regime for its terror activities and would have allowed Iran to emerge as a nuclear power after roughly a decade even if it complied fully with the terms of the deal. Netanyahu has also opposed President Joe Biden’s proposal to establish a Palestinian state as the outcome of the current war, which was started by Hamas terrorists. Netanyahu has also pushed back against Biden’s warnings not to attack Hamas in the town of Rafah.
President Biden refused to meet with Netanyahu after he was elected in November 2022 in an effort to isolate him. Biden softened towards Netanyahu in September 2023, as the prospect of a Saudi-Israeli peace deal suggested Biden might be able to claim a rare foreign policy achievement. He also traveled to Israel in October after the Hamas attack.
But lately, Biden has been publicly critical of Netanyahu, saying that he is “hurting” Israel more than he is “helping” it. Last week, Biden was caught on a hot mic saying that he had told Netanyahu he needed a “come to Jesus” meeting. And Vice President Kamala Harris signaled a desire to oust Netanyahu when she said last week that it was important to distinguish between Israel’s government and the Israeli people, as if the latter had not recently elected the former.
Israelis have responded to Biden’s pressure by rallying around Netanyahu, whose poll numbers have recovered since October 7. Many Israelis believe that Netanyahu is the only leader with the courage to stand up to Biden’s bad policies.
Netanyahu has pointed out that Israelis agree with him in opposing Biden’s policies. (So, too, do most Americans.) He has also said that only Israeli citizens and voters have the right to decide for themselves who will lead their country.
A frustrated Biden seems to be turning to congressional allies to push the message that Netanyahu has to go. Schumer, the highest-ranking Jew in American politics, and one who has styled himself as Israel’s “guardian” in Congress (even as he has backed Obama’s and Biden’s pressure on Israel), aims to send a signal that Netanyahu has no U.S. support.
But Schumer does not represent Jews or Americans on this point, and his attack will likely embolden Hamas, and Iran.
Update: The Times of Israel reports that the White House is trying to distance itself, at least publicly, from Schumer’s remarks, and that Israeli ambassador Michael Herzog has panned Schumer for interfering in Israel’s domestic politics.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent book, “The Zionist Conspiracy (and how to join it),” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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