Netanyahu’s Likud party says Israel ‘not a banana republic’ after Chuck Schumer calls for new elections – as it happened
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Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader, has called for Israel to hold new elections, arguing that prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government no longer fits the needs of Israel".
Schumer, long a strong supporter of Israel and the highest-ranking Jewish official in the US, strongly criticized the Israeli leader in a 40-minute speech on the Senate floor.
If prime minister Netanyahu's current coalition remains in power after the war begins to wind down, and continues to pursue dangerous and inflammatory policies that test existing US 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.
As a democracy, Israel has the right to choose its own leaders, and we should let the chips fall where they may. But the important thing is that Israelis are given a choice.
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