By Mary Clare Jalonick and Ellen Knickmeyer, Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer urged Israel to have new elections, saying he believes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has veered off course and is hindering peace in the area amid a rising humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Schumer, the first Jewish majority leader in the Senate and the highest-ranking Jewish official in the U.S., strongly criticized Netanyahu in a 40-minute speech Thursday morning on the Senate floor. Schumer said the prime minister has aligned himself with a group 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.”
“Israel cannot survive if it becomes a pariah,” Schumer said.
The high-level warning comes as an increasing number of Democrats have pushed back against Israel and as President Joe Biden has increased public pressure on Netanyahu’s government, cautioning that he needs to pay more attention to the civilian death toll in Gaza during the Israeli bombardment. The U.S. this month started airdrops of urgently needed humanitarian aid and announced it will set up a temporary pier to deliver more assistance into Gaza by sea.
Schumer has so far positioned himself as a strong ally of the Israeli government, visiting the country just days after the brutal Oct. 7 attack by Hamas and giving a lengthy speech on the Senate floor in December denouncing ”brazen and widespread antisemitism the likes of which we haven’t seen in generations in this country, if ever.”
But he said on the Senate floor Thursday that the ”Israeli people are being stifled right now by a governing vision that is stuck in the past.”
Schumer says Netanyahu, who has long opposed Palestinian statehood, is one of several obstacles in the way of the two-state solution pushed by the United States. Netanyahu “has lost his way by allowing his political survival to take precedence over the best interests of Israel,” Schumer said.
Schumer is also blaming right-wing Israelis, Hamas and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas. Until they are all removed from the equation, he says, “there will never be peace in Israel and Gaza and the West Bank.”
Hamas has been designated as a terrorist organization by the United States, Canada and the European Union.
Schumer says the United States cannot dictate the outcome of an election in Israel, but “a new election is the only way to allow for a healthy and open decision-making process about the future of Israel, at a time when so many Israelis have lost their confidence in the vision and direction of their government.”
Netanyahu has had a close relationship with Republicans in the U.S. for a long time. He even spoke to Congress in 2015 at the invitation of GOP lawmakers to try to sabotage President Obama's nuclear talks with Iran. This made Obama officials very angry because they saw it as a way to go around the president's authority and interfere too much in U.S. politics and foreign policy.
This week, Netanyahu was supposed to speak to Republican senators at a party gathering. But Israeli ambassador Michael Herzog took his place because of last-minute scheduling issues, according to someone who knows about the private meeting.
It's not clear how Schumer's very direct call will be received in Israel, where the next parliamentary elections are scheduled for October 2026. Many Israelis blame Netanyahu for not stopping the Hamas cross-border raid on Oct. 7, which killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and this has hurt his popularity.
Protesters in Israel wanting early elections have accused Netanyahu of making decisions based on keeping his right-wing coalition together instead of what's best for Israel during a time of war. They say he's also risking Israel's close relationship with the U.S. by rejecting U.S. suggestions for Gaza after the war to please the far-right members of his government.
The U.S.' priorities in the area have been hurt by those far-right members of his Cabinet who share Netanyahu's opposition to Palestinian statehood and other goals that past U.S. administrations have seen as important for long-term peace between Palestinians and Israelis.
After his State of the Union address, Biden was overheard promising a serious talk with Netanyahu.
Vice President Kamala Harris, Schumer, and other lawmakers met with Benny Gantz, a member of Israel's War Cabinet and a more popular rival of Netanyahu, in Washington last week. Netanyahu criticized the visit.
Gantz joined Netanyahu's government in the War Cabinet soon after the Hamas attacks. But Gantz is expected to leave the government once the heaviest fighting stops, showing that the period of national unity is ending. More mass protests could increase pressure on Netanyahu's very unpopular coalition to have early elections.
Schumer, the most senior Jewish elected official in the U.S., feels a duty to speak out. He said his last name comes from the Hebrew word Shomer, or 'guardian.'
“I also feel very keenly my responsibility as Shomer Yisroel — a guardian of the People of Israel,” he said.
Schumer said that if Israel tightens its control over Gaza and the West Bank and creates a 'de facto single state,' then there shouldn't be an expectation that Hamas and their allies will put down their weapons. It could mean constant war, he said.
“As a democracy, Israel has the right to pick its own leaders, and we should allow the consequences to happen,” Schumer said. “But the crucial thing is that Israelis are given an option.”
