March 14 (UPI) — Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the highest-ranking U.S. Jewish leader, called for new elections in Israel in a stunning denouncement of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Schumer, D-N.Y., charged that Netanyahu has “lost his way” trying to hold his Israeli conservative coalition together during its war against Hamas and is on the verge of losing the sympathy of the world.
“The Netanyahu coalition no longer fits the needs of Israel after Oct. 7,” Schumer said. “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 Netanyahu has let political survival among conservatives get in the way of what is best for the country by dismissing a two-state solution. He called for the country to make a “course correction” and it cannot survive “if it becomes a pariah” of the world.
“Five months into the conflict, it is clear that Israelis need to take stock of the situation and ask, must we change course?” Schumer said. “At this critical juncture, I believe a new election is the only way to allow for a healthy and open decision-making process about the future of Israel.”
The tone is a change from Schumer’s past remarks, where Schumer defended Israel as the past victims of anti-Semitic activities around the world as well as the right to defend itself and secure its future.
While President Joe Biden has expressed frustration with Netanyahu over the protection of Palestinian civilians, he has never gone as far as Schumer went on Thursday.
Schumer called on Israel to embrace a two-state solution, saying without it that Israel could find itself in a constant state of war.
“[The United States] should not be forced into a position of unequivocally supporting the actions of an Israeli government that includes bigots who reject the idea of a Palestinian state.”
