The News
U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Thursday called for new elections in Israel, slamming Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the war in Gaza and calling him an “obstacle to peace.”
While the Biden administration has become increasingly critical of Netanyahu and the unfolding humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Schumer’s comments on the Senate floor make him the highest ranking U.S. official to publicly call for Netanyahu’s dismissal.
“The Netanyahu coalition no longer fits the needs of Israel after Oct. 7,” Schumer said in his speech. ”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.”
Schumer said that if Netanyahu stays in power after the war, the U.S. must “play a more active role in shaping Israeli policy by using our leverage to change the present course.”
SIGNALS
Schumer’s comments invoke strong Republican condemnation
Schumer’s speech provoked strong reactions in Washington, especially among Republicans. “It is grotesque and hypocritical for Americans who hyperventilate about interference in our own democracy” to call for the ouster of Israel’s leader, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said, while House Speaker Mike Johnson called Schumer’s speech “highly inappropriate.”
Democrats had mixed reactions to Schumer’s remarks. White House national security advisor John Kirby didn’t directly comment on the senator’s speech, but said the Biden administration was focused on “making sure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself.” The Listen to Michigan campaign, which urged Democrats to vote “uncommitted” in primaries over Biden’s support for Israel, said Schumer is shifting his stance “far too slowly,” adding that they were looking “for action from Democrats, not words.”
Netanyahu could create an indefinite humanitarian crisis in Gaza
What’s worse than a Gaza run by Hamas is “a Gaza where nobody is in charge,” The New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman wrote. In his quest to maintain political power, Netanyahu “would rather see Gaza devolve into Somalia, ruled by warlords,” instead of cooperating with legitimate Palestinian authorities to govern the enclave, Friedman argued, setting the stage for an indefinite humanitarian crisis.
His idea of enlisting local Palestinian clan leaders to rule over a post-Hamas Gaza risks destabilizing the region further, Friedman wrote, comparing Israel’s lack of a coherent post-war plan to Washington’s post-Saddam Hussein Iraqi government that eventually fed anti-U.S. insurgencies. Israelis and Palestinians need leaders who recognize that whether they like it or not, the two communities are interdependent, but at the moment, Netanyahu isn’t the leader to forge a “health interdependency.”
Biden’s frustration with Netanyahu needs to be backed by substantial actions
“Getting tough on Netanyahu,” is no longer “politically toxic,” author and foreign policy expert Jonah Blank wrote for Foreign Affairs. But despite Biden’s increasingly vocal frustration with the Israeli prime minister, he is yet to challenge Israel in any substantial way.
Biden has a range of options to deter Netanyahu, including voting to support U.N. Security Council resolutions calling for a ceasefire, or recognizing Palestinian statehood. Biden could also threaten to veto funding to Israel or stall efforts to normalize Israeli-Saudi relations unless Netanyahu scales back the Gaza invasion and delivers on providing humanitarian aid, Blank wrote.