WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va.—House Republicans condemned calls made by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) during their annual retreat.
“I believe in his heart his highest priority is the security of Israel. However, I also believe Prime Minister Netanyahu has lost his way by allowing his political survival to take precedence over the best interests of Israel,” Mr. Schumer said.
Mr. Netanyahu’s political coalition “no longer fits the needs of Israel after Oct. 7,” Mr. Schumer wrote in social media post with a clip from his floor speech.
Specifically, Mr. Schumer condemned Mr. Netanyahu’s alliance with the far right of Israeli politics and said that his conduct in the war in Gaza is pushing international support for Israel to “historic lows.”
“Israel cannot survive if it becomes a pariah,” Mr. Schumer said.
Republicans, enjoying their annual retreat at the Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia, were quick to condemn and reject these calls.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) called the demand that Mr. Netanyahu step down “highly inappropriate.”
“We want to speak very clearly and concisely to say that this is not only highly inappropriate, it’s just plain wrong for an American leader to play such a divisive role in Israeli politics while our closest ally in the region is in an existential battle for its very survival,” Mr. Johnson said during a March 14 press conference.
“We need to be standing with Israel. We need to give our friends and allies our full support. We have to stand with and support them right now,” Mr. Johnson added. “But what you’re seeing from the White House and clearly from the Senate Democrats is really exactly the opposite.”
House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), speaking at the same conference, agreed, equating Mr. Schumer’s call with an attempt “for the U.S. to meddle in Israel’s elections.”
Bipartisan Support for Israel
Rep. French Hill (R-Ark.) echoed the sentiment during a later press conference, calling Mr. Schumer’s comments “out of step” with Congress’ bipartisan support for Israel.“Hamas has to be defeated in Gaza,” Mr. Hill said. “That’s the objective we got from Israel and the United States needs to stand behind that objective in an unambiguous way.”
Freshman Rep. Keith Self (R-Texas) also weighed in on the issue in comments to NTD, The Epoch Times’ sister media outlet.
“That’s not Chuck Schumer’s job, [or] our job,” Mr. Self said.
“That’s election interference. Now they’ve gotten away with election interference in the United States. So maybe he thinks he can get away with election interference in international affairs. But that’s not the job of the Majority Leader of the Senate to start talking about a foreign sovereign nation leader resigning and new elections.”
House Republicans also heard from Michael Herzog, the Israeli ambassador to the United States, during the retreat.
“Israel is a sovereign democracy,” Mr. Herzog wrote. “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.”
White House spokesperson John Kirby also weighed in.
“We know that leader Schumer feels strongly about this,” he said during a call with reporters. “And I’m certainly going to let him speak to it and to his comments.
“We’re going to stay focused on making sure that Israel has what it needs to defend itself while doing everything that they can to avoid civilian casualties,” Mr. Kirby said. “And of course, we’re still focused, laser-focused on trying to get a temporary ceasefire in place so that we can get the hostages out and get more aid. That’s where our head is right now.”
Mr. Schumer’s comments come as some U.S. lawmakers, primarily in the Democratic Party, have called for a ceasefire in the current Gaza conflict and sought to limit U.S. military aid for Israel.
The issue has divided Democrats, with many in the party, especially younger voters, insistent on a ceasefire and characterizing Israeli military actions in the region as a “genocide.”
The war has raged in the region since a surprise attack by Hamas caught Israel entirely off guard on Oct. 7, 2023.
Since then, thousands of innocents on both sides have died, and the issue has increasingly challenged President Joe Biden’s hold on the younger members of his party.
