Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) slammed the Democrats on March 20, saying their issue is not with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but rather with Israel.
In a speech on the Senate floor, Mr. McConnell said Democrats are out of touch with the “overwhelming support” Israelis have for their military operations in Gaza in response to the terrorist group Hamas’ attack on the Jewish state on Oct. 7, shooting and killing Israelis, raping women, and taking people hostage. It was the deadliest single-day massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.
“Some prominent American democrats are increasingly vocal in their belief that Israel[’s] unity government and Israeli voters are wrong,” he said.
Mr. McConnell’s comments come almost a week after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) called for new elections in Israel in what was an apparent shot at Mr. Netanyahu, who has come under fire for the fatalities in Gaza, where the numbers cited are uncertain given that they come from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry.
“As much as some of our colleagues might like them to be, Democrats’ egregious and hypocritical attempts to influence Israeli domestic politics aren’t some simple or narrow critique of a particular prime minister,” said Mr. McConnell.
“They’re an affront to the very independence of the state of Israel, a sovereign nation, a robust democracy, and one of America’s closest allies and friends,” he continued. “Not a colony, not a vassal state, not some appendage of our own domestic politics.”
Mr. Schumer said Mr. Netanyahu has “lost his way.”
“The Netanyahu coalition no longer fits the needs of Israel after Oct. 7,“ Mr. Schumer said on March 14. ”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.”
Mr. Netanyahu fired back at Mr. Schumer, labeling his call for a new election “totally inappropriate.”
Mr. McConnell said Democrats like Mr. Schumer have a problem with the Jewish state, not its prime minister.
“Our Democratic colleagues don’t have an anti-Bibi problem. They have an anti-Israel problem,” he said.
“What else are we supposed to make of the way democrats have fallen in line ... behind the position the Democratic leader expressed here on the floor last week?” continued Mr. McConnell.
While the Biden administration has been supportive of Israel seeking to destroy Hamas, it has criticized the Jewish state as it pertains to the casualties in Gaza, which Hamas controls. The administration has sought to get constant humanitarian aid to Gazans, even airdropping assistance.
Mr. McConnell’s words come on the heels of former President Donald Trump, the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, saying on March 18 that Jews who vote Democrat are going against their own interests and Israel.
“I actually think they hate Israel,” said President Trump on the America First show with Sebastian Gorka, who briefly served in his administration.
“I think they hate Israel,“ he continued. ”And the Democrat party hates Israel.”
President Trump’s remarks mirrored what he said as president in 2019.
“I think if you vote for a Democrat, you are very, very disloyal to Israel and to the Jewish people,” he said.
Finally, Mr. McConnell’s words come as the GOP-controlled House of Representatives is considering inviting Mr. Netanyahu to address Congress.
“It’s one of the things that we have in mind, and we may try to arrange for that,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters on March 20.
“I think it’s very important for us to show solidarity and support for Israel right now in their time of great struggle, and we certainly stand for that position and we’ll try to advance that in every way that we can.”
Mr. Johnson said he had a “lengthy conversation” with Mr. Netanyahu on the morning of March 20.
The last time Mr. Netanyahu addressed Congress was in 2015, warning about the then-pending Iran nuclear deal. Critics said the deal rewarded the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, did not actually curb Tehran’s nuclear weapons program and did not address Iran’s other malign activities, such as its support for terrorist groups like Hamas and the regime’s ballistic missile program.
