The White House effectively welcomed Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer’s remarks Thursday calling for new elections in Israel to replace Netanyahu, described by the New York Democrat as “a major obstacle to peace.”
Biden said Friday that Schumer gave a “good speech.”
Asked about the president’s praise, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” that Biden “knows that the sentiments that Leader Schumer expressed yesterday in that very impassioned speech are shared by many Americans.
Privately, White House officials expressed a similar sentiment. “We’re not worried about that. There’s nothing to worry about,” a White House official said of the speech.
Schumer’s remarks on the Senate floor highlighted divisions within the Democratic Party that will be difficult for the president to overcome as he campaigns for a second term. Her stance is likely to embolden progressives who want to see her backed by a significant change in U.S. policy toward Israel, including using leverage by suspending aid and arms transfers unless the Netanyahu government is not changing course.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., praised Schumer’s speech but said it wasn’t enough.
“I think it’s a step in the right direction. And the people of Israel must understand that they are increasingly isolated from the rest of the world. There is global outrage over Netanyahu’s far-right government literally starving hundreds of thousands of children in Gaza,” Sanders told NBC News. “We cannot continue to finance Netanyahu’s war machine. »
But other Democrats, including Sen. John Fetterman, Democrat of Pennsylvania, and Sen. Jacky Rosen, Democrat of Nevada, disagreed with Schumer’s calls to replace Netanyahu.
“Israel is our closest ally in the Middle East, and as a democracy, it is up to the Israeli people to determine their political future,” said Rosen, who faces a re-election campaign this fall.
This dynamic could further complicate the process of passing a package combining aid to Ukraine and Israel, with progressives like Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., opposed to an effort to provide funding to both allies from the United States unless there are conditions for Israel.
Biden adopted the bear hug approach to Israel immediately after October 7 because he believed it was the most effective way to exert influence over Israel as it carried out its military attack against Hamas. But that strategy quickly began to reveal its flaws, with Israel ignoring Biden’s calls to do more to protect Palestinian civilians and increase the amount of humanitarian aid arriving in Gaza.
Now, Biden and Netanyahu have not spoken in a month. Their last call took place on February 15 and focused largely on Rafah, according to the White House.
White House officials said Biden was briefed before Schumer’s speech, but that no one in the administration coordinated with the senator about it. Yet Biden’s own comments last weekend may have laid the groundwork for Schumer’s public statement.
When Biden said Netanyahu was “hurting Israel more than helping Israel,” it signaled a significant breakdown in the relationship. The president said Netanyahu was not paying enough “attention to the innocent lives lost as a result of his actions.”
“It’s contrary to what Israel stands for,” Biden told MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart last week. “And I think that’s a big mistake.”
Andrea Mitchell, Kelly O’Donnell, Sahil Kapur And Abigail Williams contributed.
