The Likud Party said that Israel is not a “banana republic” in response to comments by US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer about the necessity of holding new elections in the Hebrew state.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s party confirmed that it is leading a policy that enjoys “large public support,” according to Reuters.
After Schumer’s statements, Israel’s ambassador to the United States said that “it is useless to comment on the domestic political scene of an allied democratic country.”
Schumer had called on Israel to hold new elections, saying that he believed that Netanyahu had “lost his way” in the Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip and in the ongoing humanitarian crisis there.
Schumer, the first Jewish majority leader and the highest-ranking Jewish official in the United States, plans to harshly criticize Netanyahu in a lengthy speech Thursday morning on the Senate floor.
In prepared remarks seen by The Associated Press, Schumer said the Israeli prime minister had positioned himself in a far-right coalition and “as a result, was all too willing to tolerate the civilian death toll in Gaza, which has pushed global support for Israel to its lowest levels.”
Schumer is also scheduled to say that “Israel will not be able to survive if it becomes a pariah.”
The speech comes as the number of Democrats who have withdrawn from supporting Israel increases, and President Joe Biden has publicly increased his pressure on Netanyahu’s government, recommending that he must pay attention to the increase in civilian casualties in Gaza.
This month, the United States began dropping much-needed humanitarian aid over the Strip, and announced that it would establish a temporary dock to send more aid by sea.
Until now, Schumer has presented himself as a staunch ally of the Israeli government, visiting the Jewish state days after the Hamas attack on October 7, and delivering a lengthy speech before the Senate in December in which he denounced “the kind of brazen, widespread anti-Semitism the likes of which we have not seen in generations in this country.” “If we’ve ever seen anything like it.”
But on Thursday, he is scheduled to clarify that “the Israeli people are now bound by a ruling vision stuck in the past.”
Schumer explains that Netanyahu, who has always opposed the establishment of a Palestinian state, is one of multiple obstacles to the two-state solution supported by the United States.
He also points the finger at right-wing Israelis, Hamas, and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
He pointed out that until they are excluded from the equation, “there will be no peace in Israel, Gaza and the West Bank.”
US President Joe Biden said in previous statements that Netanyahu is “doing more harm to Israel than good” by the way he managed the war in Gaza, noting that the decisions he took that caused the killing of civilians “are a big mistake.”
In an interview with MSNBC, Biden considered, “Netanyahu has the right to defend Israel and continue attacking Hamas. But he must be more careful about the innocent lives lost due to the measures taken,” adding, “In my opinion, this harms Israel more than it does.” “It benefits her.”
Biden and his aides urged Netanyahu in strong terms not to launch a major attack in Rafah before Israel develops a plan for a mass evacuation of civilians from the last area of Gaza not yet overrun by ground forces. More than half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million is taking shelter in the Rafah area.
The United States is the main supporter of Israel, but the Biden administration recently directed the most severe criticism of Israel since the start of the war in Gaza, and included calling on the Netanyahu government to take steps to increase aid to the Gaza Strip, which the United Nations says is at risk of famine.
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