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The Democratic leader of the US Senate has called for new elections in Israel to replace Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing him of weakening the Jewish State’s “political and moral fabric”, in a significant escalation of Washington’s criticism of the Israeli prime minister.
Chuck Schumer, a longtime supporter of Israel and the US’s most prominent Jewish politician, warned Washington’s support could be at stake if Netanyahu remained in office after the war with Hamas in Gaza, saying he had been “too willing to tolerate the civilian toll”, and was “pushing support for Israel worldwide to historic lows”.
“If prime minister Netanyahu’s current coalition remains in power after the war begins to wind down, and continues to pursue dangerous and inflammatory policies that test existing US standards for assistance, then the United States will have no choice but to play a more active role in shaping Israeli policy by using our leverage to change the present course,” Schumer said in a speech to the Senate on Thursday.
“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, at a time when so many Israelis have lost their confidence in the vision and direction of their government,” Schumer also said.
Israel’s ambassador to the US, Michael Herzog, hit back, branding Schumer’s comments “counterproductive”.
The speech by Schumer comes amid growing anger in Washington at the way that Netanyahu’s right-wing government has been prosecuting its war, which erupted after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 hostage, according to Israeli officials.
Israel’s retaliatory bombardment of Gaza has killed more than 31,300 people, according to Palestinian officials, as well as displacing more than 1.7mn of its inhabitants, and fuelling a humanitarian crisis that has left many in the enclave on the brink of starvation.
Over the weekend, US President Joe Biden said the Israeli prime minister was “hurting Israel more than helping Israel”, while a US intelligence assessment released earlier this week said that domestic distrust in Netanyahu was mounting and his rule was “in jeopardy”.
That assessment sparked an angry response from Netanyahu’s government with a “very senior Israeli official” widely assumed to be the prime minister issuing a statement to local media accusing the US of seeking to oust him.
“Israel is not a protectorate of the US but an independent and democratic country whose citizens are the ones who elect the government. We expect our friends to act to overthrow the terror regime of Hamas and not the elected government in Israel,” the very senior official said.
In his speech — which came as the US imposed more sanctions on extremist Jewish settlers that it accused of undermining the stability of the occupied West Bank — Schumer said that the US should increase the pressure on Israel to agree to the establishment of a Palestinian state.
“The US government should demand that Israel conduct itself with a future two-state solution in mind,” Schumer said. “We 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.”
“Nobody expects prime minister Netanyahu to do the things that must be done to break the cycle of violence, preserve Israel’s credibility on the world stage, and work towards a two-state solution,” he added.
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