US senate leader calls for Israeli elections
Senate leader Chuck Schumer called for Israel to hold elections in the most strident US criticism of the Gaza war yet, according to AP.
The March 14th comments came amid increased pressure from President Joe Biden over the conflict’s mounting civilian death toll.
The head of the US chamber’s democratic majority stated that “as a democracy, Israel has the right to choose its own leaders, and we should let the chips fall where they may. But the important thing is that Israelis are given a choice,” but did not suggest a timeline as to a vote.
“There needs to be a fresh debate about the future of Israel after October 7th,” he added.
Symbolic of the worsening ties between Washington and Tel Aviv, Schumer labelled Israel’s President Benjamin Netanyahu as one of four “major obstacles” to peace, alongside Hamas, Palestinian Authority (PA) leader Mahmoud Abbas, and radical right-wing Israelis.
The senate leader accused Netanyahu of being “too willing to tolerate the civilian death toll in Gaza, which is pushing support for Israel worldwide to historic lows,” and of surrounding himself with extremists, singling out cabinet ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Schumer added that “Israel cannot survive if it becomes a pariah.”
READ: “Incompetent” Netanyahu brushes off US scrutiny
The Israel-Gaza war broke out on October 7th, 2023, when Hamas militants crossed into southern Israel and killed almost 1,200 people, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Tel Aviv’s retaliatory bombardment and invasion of Gaza has killed at least 31,341 people, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry’s estimates.
Despite daily aid airdrops by multiple nations, the UN is warning of a famine in Gaza, with reports citing 27 people to have already died of starvation as the organization struggles to access the enclave.
READ: Des Freedman: Only Israeli lives matter in western press
Schumer’s criticisms were welcomed by the J Street liberal lobby group as a “historic shift,” that reflected the views of the “overwhelming majority” of American Jews.
They did however spark an angry backlash from Netanyahu’s Likud party, which retorted that Israel “is not a banana republic, but an independent and proud democracy, that elected Prime Minister Netanyahu.”
Israel’s Washington envoy, Michael Herzog, branded Schumer’s comments “unhelpful,” while former Israeli prime minister, Naftali Bennett, called them out as “external political intervention” in Israeli affairs.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Schumer had not notified the White House as to what he planned to say, but that the administration respected his right to speak out.
Kirby added that “[the] issue of elections is in the parliamentary process of the Israeli government, the government elected by the Israeli people.”
AP / AFP
