Schumer Spurns Netanyahu's Request for Democratic Address

By Al Mayadeen English

20 Mar 2024 21:52

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer confirms his refusal of a request from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address US lawmakers.

US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has confirmed that he declined a request from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to address lawmakers today.

“When you make these issues partisan, you hurt the cause of Israel,” Schumer told journalists.

This comes a week after he called for new Israeli elections, fiercely denouncing Netanyahu as an impediment to "peace".

Democrat Chuck Schumer, "Israel's" long-time backer and the highest-ranking Jewish political official elected, told the Senate last Thursday that Netanyahu's administration "no longer fits the needs of Israel" as the war rages on in Gaza.

At the time, Schumer claimed that "Israel" was a "democracy" and noted that settlers had a right to choose a leader but called for a "fresh debate about the future of Israel after October 7," which he believes is best accomplished via elections.

Schumer considered it a "grave mistake" for the occupation to reject a two-state solution and encouraged mediators to do all necessary to establish a truce, free captives, and provide relief to Gaza.

Last month, the Israeli cabinet issued a statement firmly rejecting the "unilateral recognition of a Palestinian state by the international community."

Schumer and other Democrats like President Joe Biden himself are under fire from inside the party for Washington's unflinching support for "Israel", given the scale of civilian casualty and destruction in the strip.

Schumer also called for the resignation of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, citing it was necessary for a "new generation of Palestinian leaders who will work towards attaining peace with a Jewish State."

The Senate's Republican leader, Mitch McConnell, called Schumer's comments "grotesque, and hypocritical," since it was hypocritical to interfere in another country's "democracy," and "hyperventilate about foreign interference."

Schumer emphasized the prospect of Washington utilizing its leverage if the Israelis did not alter their direction, emphasizing that if the war coalition remains in power and continues their "dangerous and inflammatory policies that test existing U.S. standards for assistance, then the United States will have no choice but to play a more active role in shaping Israeli policy by using our leverage to change the present course."

The Democrat accused Netanyahu of being "too willing" to accept the high death toll of civilians in Gaza and emphasized that his behavior and attitude in the genocide was sinking support for "Israel" globally to "historic lows."

"Israel cannot survive if it becomes a pariah," Schumer stressed.