Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) took the floor of the U.S. Senate on Thursday and ramped up pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by calling for new elections in Israel.
Schumer called for a two-state solution in the Middle East to create a lasting peace in the region and blasted those who make the “unfounded, absurd and offensive claims” that Israelis are “colonizers” in their “ancestral homeland.”
Schumer said Netanyahu “all too frequently bowed to the demands of extremists” and added that “It has become clear to me the Netanyahu coalition no longer fits the needs of Israel after October 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,” he declared.
The Senate’s top Democrat went on to call Netanyahu an “obstacle to peace” at a time when President Joe Biden’s support for Israel has angered many on his left flank and led to protests.
“I have known Prime Minister Netanyahu for a 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. I believe in his heart his highest priority is the security of Israel. However, I also believe Prime Minister Netanyahu has lost his way by allowing his political survival to take precedence over the best interests of Israel,” he
Schumer also ripped the current governing coalition in Israel, saying Netanyahu “has put himself in coalition with far-right extremists like Ministers [Bezalel] Smotrich and [Itamar] Ben-Gvir, 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,” he said.
Watch Schumer’s remarks above.