Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has condemned Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s “totally inappropriate” speech in which a New York poll called for new elections in Israel after the end of the war.
Last Thursday, Schumer (D-N.Y.), the highest-ranking Jewish official in the United States, in a speech on the Senate floor accused Prime Minister Netanyahu and his cabinet of obstructing long-term peace in the region. did.
“I think what he said was completely inappropriate,” Netanyahu said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union,” saying it’s inappropriate to go to sister democracies and try to replace elected leaders there. , he said.
“That’s what it is. [the] The people of Israel act independently. We are not a banana republic. ”
Mr. Schumer, 73, has long been an ardent defender of Israel, but on Thursday he joined a group of progressives who say U.S. allies are not doing enough to protect civilians in the densely populated Gaza Strip. I echoed the growing cheers.
“As a lifelong supporter of Israel, after October 7, it became clear that the Netanyahu coalition no longer fits Israel’s needs,” Schumer declared.
The top Senate Democrat refused to support a specific successor, stressing that “the United States cannot and should not influence the outcome of elections.”
“That’s for the Israeli people to decide. The people, I believe, understand better than anyone that Israel cannot hope to succeed as a pariah, opposed by the rest of the world.” Schumer said at the time.
His remarks came against the backdrop of the gradual internal conflict over the Israel-Hamas war. Frustrated progressives have expressed their anger by voting against President Biden in Michigan and other primaries.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told CNN he believed the majority of Israelis were on his side.
“The majority of Israelis support the policies of my government. This is not a fringe government,” Netanyahu added. “If Sen. Schumer opposes these policies, he is not against me, he is against the people of Israel.”
According to opinion polls, Prime Minister Netanyahu’s approval rating was 15% in January. A December Gallup poll found 40% approved of his job.
Opinion polls released last week suggested a coalition government. Anti-Netanyahu party will win majority in parliament If new elections are held.
Mr Biden, 81, had previously described Israel’s response to Hamas’s bloody surprise attack on October 7, 2023 as “overreach”, but praised Mr Schumer’s remarks as a “good speech”.
U.S. support for Israel has long been a bipartisan issue, but it has begun to fray in recent months amid Democratic unease over Israel’s right-leaning government and the rising death toll of Palestinians.
Well over 30,000 Palestinians have been killed in fighting since the war broke out in October last year, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry.
Approximately 1,160 people were killed in the October 7 terrorist attack in southern Israel.
The Biden administration is extremely wary of Israel’s potential foray into Rafah, a city in the Gaza Strip where an estimated 1.4 million Palestinians are sheltered.
Biden himself weighed in on the prospect of an Israeli invasion of Rafah.red lineIf the Jewish state does not have adequate plans for its civilian population.
Nevertheless, Prime Minister Netanyahu has vowed to move on to Rafah.
Israel’s longest-serving leader has also been reluctant to hold elections after the war ends.
Israel is currently run by a wartime cabinet established after a bloody Hamas attack last October. Prime Minister Netanyahu barely returned to power at the end of 2022 after aligning with a coalition of right-wing parties.
“You’ll see when we win the war. And until we win the war, if we hold an election now before we win the war and win big, we’re going to paralyze the country for at least six months. I think Israelis understand that,” Prime Minister Netanyahu said.
When asked further by host Dana Bash about holding elections after the war, he said, “I think that’s for the Israeli people to decide.”
“I think it’s ridiculous to talk about it. It’s like after 9/11, in the middle of a war against al-Qaeda. And Israel, you know, what we need right now is…U.S. They will say, “New elections in.”
(Israel’s government operates on a parliamentary system of government, which allows party leaders to call new elections, or to hold new elections if the coalition of parties running the government breaks down.)
Prime Minister Netanyahu also emphasized Israel’s efforts to ensure that Palestinians receive desperately needed aid as the war escalates.
“We have created alternative routes, supply routes, and tolerated the suspension of air humanitarian assistance,” he said.
“The problem is that once you have it, it gets looted by Hamas and gangs.”
Asked whether Israel has a fundamental “responsibility” to ensure that starving children in the Gaza Strip are fed, and whether it is doing everything in its power to ensure that they have access to food, Prime Minister Netanyahu, on the other hand, emphasized that:
“Adamantly? Yes,” he answered. “This is an effort that we are always working on. I think Hamas is working on the opposite.”
“I think it is both cynical and factually wrong to try to shift the blame onto Israel, which is doing everything it can to minimize civilian casualties and obtain humanitarian aid. ”
The newspaper has reached out to Schumer’s office for comment. Ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas are expected to resume on Sunday.
