Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday it was “totally inappropriate” for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) to call for a new government in the country amid its ongoing war with Hamas.
“I think what he said is totally inappropriate,” Netanyahu told CNN’s “State of the Union.” “It’s inappropriate to go to a sister democracy and try to replace the elected leadership there. That’s something the Israeli public does on its own.”
“I think the only government that we should be working on to bring down now is the terrorist tyranny in Gaza, the Hamas tyranny that murdered over 1,000 Israelis, including some dozens of Americans, and is holding Americans and Israelis hostage,” he added. “That’s what we should be focused on.”
Schumer stunned the Israelis last week when he called on the country to make “significant course corrections” in Gaza as the death toll following Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack mounts. In a lengthy speech on the Senate floor, the lawmaker said he believed Netanyahu had “lost his way” and was allowing his political survival “to take precedence over the best interests of Israel.”
“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, the highest-ranking Jewish official in the country, said.
His comments come as the death toll in Gaza has reportedly topped more than 30,000, including many women and children. The Biden administration has grown increasingly frustrated with Netanyahu’s government as it seeks to negotiate a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, and Democrats have amped up the pressure on the White House to see something done soon to protect civilian lives and increase the flow of aid into the region.
Ceasefire talks were expected to restart on Sunday in Qatar after mediators had hoped to secure a deal before the start of Ramadan earlier this month. Hamas has so far refused any agreement that wouldn’t lead to a permanent halt in fighting, but Israel has rejected those demands. The group still holds more than 100 Israeli hostages and it is expected that a deal would induce a staggered release of some being held.
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) praised her colleague in her own remarks on Sunday, telling CNN’s Dana Bash that his recent speech was an “act of courage” and an “act of love for Israel.”
“I wish the Prime Minister would read the whole speech because he speaks with great vehemence about the need to defeat Hamas,” Pelosi said on Sunday. “The issue of food in Gaza is a very big one. And either the prime minister, Netanyahu, is unaware or ill-informed.”
Schumer also laid blame on Hamas for the ongoing war in the region last week, saying the group had sacrificed civilian safety and used Palestinians as “human shields.”