This morning, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Schumer, who has been leading the charge amongst Senate Democrats to support Israel after October 7th, announced that Israel should hold new elections. He publicly said that Prime Minister Netanyahu has “lost his way” as international pressure mounts over Israeli plans to clear Rafah of Hamas.
In a speech to the Senate this morning, Schumer placed blame for the unpopular Gaza War (among extreme wings of each party base) squarely on Netanyahu, saying he has aligned himself with far-right extremists and “as a result, he has been too willing to tolerate the civilian toll in Gaza, which is pushing support for Israel worldwide to historic lows…Israel cannot survive if it becomes a pariah.”
However, Israeli Ambassador to the United States Herzog has now responded with a retort of his own against the most senior Jewish politician in the U.S.
Israel is a sovereign democracy. 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.
— Ambassador Michael Herzog (@AmbHerzog) March 14, 2024
Senator Schumer’s remarks follow tightly behind President Biden’s careful narrative of criticizing the Israeli war against Hamas which is widely popular amongst Americans, but not his Democratic base. A narrow opening exists for the Biden administration and pro-Israeli Democrats who can blame Netanyahu for overstepping, while still supporting the overall Israeli war effort. However, as Ambassador Herzog points out, the Netanyahu administration is democratically elected and actually has a unity government and war cabinet which convened after the deadliest attack against Jews since the Holocaust.
