The US-Israel relationship erupted on Thursday after America’s most prominent Jewish politician called for Benjamin Netanyahu’s hardline government to be replaced, accusing him of weakening his country’s “political and moral fabric” and being an “obstacle to peace”.
Chuck Schumer, a close ally of President Joe Biden and the most senior Democrat in the US Senate, said that Washington should use its leverage over Israel to force Netanyahu’s ruling coalition to adopt a more moderate course, if it remained in power after the war with Hamas.
“The Netanyahu coalition no longer fits the needs of Israel after October 7. 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 in a speech to the Senate on Thursday.