Schumer Launches Unprecedented Attack on Israel; Wants Bibi Out

By Fern Sidman

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has made a highly controversial call for new elections in Israel, as he heaped sharp criticism on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government during a speech on the Senate floor on Thursday regarding the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, as was reported on CNN.  Schumer, a self-proclaimed supporter of Israel and the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in America, highlighted what he views as the need for a change in direction for the Israeli government.

“As a lifelong supporter of Israel, it has become clear to me: The Netanyahu coalition no longer fits the needs of Israel after October 7,” Schumer stated, referencing the date of the Hamas terror attack on Israel in which 1200 Israelis were brutally massacred, scores of women and girls raped and murdered, and 250 people taken hostage, according to the information provided in the CNN report.  “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 added.

“Five months into this conflict, it is clear that Israelis need to take stock of the situation and ask: must we change course?” he continued. “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 his “heart also breaks at the loss of so many civilian lives in Gaza,”  the CNN report indicated.

Schumer criticized Netanyahu for aligning himself with far-right extremists in the Israeli government, saying he has turned away from a two-state solution for Israelis and Palestinians, according to a report on Axios.  Biden supports such a plan.

Chuck Schumer’s statement- Click to watch 

“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 toward a two-state solution,” Schumer said.

“I am anguished that the Israeli war campaign has killed so many innocent Palestinians,” he continued. “I know that my fellow Jewish Americans feel this same anguish when they see the images of dead and starving children and destroyed homes.”

Schumer’s call for new elections comes as the humanitarian crisis in Gaza worsens amid ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas. The CNN report noted that pressure has mounted on Democratic party officials, including President Joe Biden, to adopt a tougher stance against Israel, with congressional aid to Israel stalling amid debates over how to address the situation.

The Likud party, led by Prime Minister Netanyahu, responded to Schumer’s remarks with criticism, asserting that Schumer should respect Israel’s elected government and not undermine it. “Israel is not a banana republic, but an independent and proud democracy that elected Prime Minister Netanyahu,” the party stated, as was pointed out in the CNN report.

In  video above Sen. McConnell defends Netanyahu  “It is grotesque and hypocritical for Americans who hyperventilate about foreign interference in our own democracy to call for the removal of a democratically elected leader of Israel. This is unprecedented. We should not treat fellow democracies this way at all.”

Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell and House Speaker Mike Johnson have sharply criticized  Schumer’s Thursday call for new elections in Israel, highlighting a stark partisan divide over U.S. involvement in Israeli politics amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.

In his remarks on the Senate floor, McConnell expressed vehement opposition to Schumer’s proposal, asserting, “Israel is not a colony of America whose leaders serve at the pleasure of the party in power in Washington. Only Israel’s citizens should have a say in who runs their government,” CNN reported.  He characterized Schumer’s stance as “grotesque and hypocritical,” condemning calls for the removal of a democratically elected leader of Israel as unprecedented and inappropriate.

Similarly, House Speaker Mike Johnson condemned Schumer’s intervention in Israeli politics, describing it as “highly inappropriate” and “just plain wrong.” The report on CNN indicated that he placed emphasis on the need for American leaders to stand with Israel during its existential battle for survival, rather than engaging in divisive rhetoric that could undermine its leadership.

Johnson indicated that House Republican leadership is considering bringing a standalone Israel bill to the floor for consideration, following Schumer’s remarks. “This probably does change the calculation, so we are considering that,” he stated, according to the CNN report, as he underscored the potential impact of Schumer’s call for new elections on legislative priorities related to Israel.

Johnson said in a Thursday interview at the House GOP retreat that taking up aid to Ukraine and Israel is “very much a priority,” stopping short of full commitment to a House vote on the long-stalled assistance, as was indicated in the Politico report. But he made clear that once the aid does come up, it would be a “stand-alone” bill that’s not attached to a must-pass vehicle like government funding legislation.

Schumer defended his position, asserting that he believes “a majority of the Israeli public will recognize the need for change.” The CNN report also said that he argued that holding new elections once the war starts to wind down would provide Israelis with an opportunity to express their vision for the post-war future.

Israeli ambassador to the U.S. Michael Herzog criticized Schumer’s remarks in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter: “It is unhelpful, all the more so as Israel is at war against the genocidal terror organization Hamas, to comment on the domestic political scene of a democratic ally. It is counterproductive to our common goals.” He is slated to speak to House Republicans on Thursday during their retreat, as was reported by Politico.

After Schumer’s Senate speech, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said there would be no immediate change in U.S. policy toward the conflict, which has included sending arms to Israel, according to a published report on Thursday on the Voice of America web site.

Kirby said the U.S. would “stay focused on making sure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself while doing everything that they can to avoid civilian casualties and, of course, we’re still focused — laser focused — on trying to get a temporary cease-fire in place so that we can get the hostages out and get more aid into Gaza for famished Palestinians.”

“That’s where our head is right now,” Kirby concluded, the VOA reported.

Also on Thursday, in a statement sent to the media, the Coalition for Jewish Values (CJV), representing over 2,500 traditional, Orthodox rabbis in American public policy, rebuked Schumer for his “counterproductive interference” in Israel’s democratic government, in his floor speech that has generated enormous controversy.

CJV President Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld said the following in the CJV statement: “The leader who has ‘lost his way’ here is Sen. Schumer himself, who is using Netanyahu as a bogeyman for hatred directed against Jews for having the temerity to defend Jewish lives. Every Israeli, and every committed Jew, recognizes the malignant hatred of those calling Israel ‘genocidal’ as it eliminates a genocidal terror organization, or calling for a ‘ceasefire’ to permit the terrorists to regroup, rearm, and again murder the innocent.

Leader McConnell is right to call Sen. Schumer’s statement hypocritical, but it goes further: Mr. Schumer can best remind us that his name comes from Shomer, Hebrew for guardian, by calling out members of his own party trafficking in classically anti-Semitic tropes, like Reps. Omar and Tlaib. He should apologize for his counterproductive interference in Israel’s democratic governance and self-defense.”

In an article he penned on Thursday, Barry Shaw of the Israel Institute for Strategic Studies wrote: “Shockingly, Senate Chief, Chuck Schumer, just stabbed Israel in the back. In an official Senate statement ,Schumer slandered Israel’s duly elected leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, and, interfering in Israeli domestic politics, called for an Israeli election to unseat Bibi.”

Shaw continued: “It was on 14 November, in front of 300,000 Israel supporting Americans, Schumer said “Never Again! Let us not forget history. We stand with you and, rest assured, we will not rest until you get all the assistance that you need.” It seems Schumer has a short memory. That assistance died today. That promise to 300,000 Americans and Israel was broken by hypocrite Schumer.

Today he called Bibi an “obstacle to peace” as he demanded a two state solution, meaning a unity pact between Hamas and Fatah, as if that would assure Israel’s survival.

Opposition leader, Mitch McConnell, not a Jew, said in response, “The Jewish State of Israel deserves an ally that acts like one,” while calling Schumer’s call for new Israeli elections in the midst of a war for Israel’s existence as “unprecedented.” It was indeed an unprecedented betrayal by the leading Jew in the US Government.

Shaw added that, “Schumer, like his boss Biden, would prefer to leave Hamas alive and killing and elevated into statehood. Shame on Schumer! Israel’s relations with the United States at this critical time, has reached its lowest point, perhaps ever. Biden once promised he had Israel’s back. That is where he and Schumer are sticking the Democrat’s knife.”

Following Schumer’s address, the Republican Jewish Coalition also weighed in on the matter. In a statement sent to the media on Thursday, RJC CEO Matt Brooks said of Schumer’s anti-Israel speech on  the Senate floor, “As Israel continues to righteously fight to defend itself from barbaric terrorists, the most powerful Democrat in Congress knifed the Jewish state in the back.”

He continued: “This morning, taking a page from the 2015 Obama playbook, the Democratic Senate Majority Leader, Chuck Schumer, delivered a speech in which he demanded that Israel’s democratically-elected government be evicted from power and replaced by one more to his liking.

Senator Schumer crossed a real red line. It is outrageous and unacceptable to meddle in Israel’s domestic politics by demanding that a democratic ally hold elections on our timetable, particularly when the Jewish state is fighting for its very survival.

Brooks added that, “Senator Schumer has frequently described himself as the so-called “Shomer”, or guardian, of the Jewish people – let there be no doubt that his remarks today were a “Shanda”, a disgrace. Today’s events serve as a clarion call to take back the White House and US Senate from this radical Democrat leadership, which is waging political warfare on our key ally Israel and rewarding terrorists. “