Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has shot back at Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer for calling for his ouster and new elections in Israel amid ongoing military operation against the terrorist group Hamas in Gaza.
Prime Minister Netanyahu rejected Senate majority leader Schumer’s criticism of his war-time leadership in a series of interviews in U.S. media outlets on Sunday. “I think what he said is totally inappropriate. It’s inappropriate to go to a sister democracy and try to replace the elected leadership there,” prime minister told the CNN.
Senator Schumer enjoys full support for his remarks from the White House. President Joe Biden on Friday publicly backed Schumer’s ‘good’ call for fresh Israeli elections.
Prime Minister Netanyahu made similar remarks during an interview on the Fox & Friends, The Times of Israel reported:
In an interview on the “Fox & Friends” morning show, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that US Senator Chuck Schumer’s calls for the Israeli premier to be replaced “are wholly inappropriate,” repeating a sentiment he expressed minutes before on CNN.“It shouldn’t have been said, it’s wrong,” he says.He also emphasizes that the Israeli people will decide when elections in Israel are held, and it won’t be “foisted on us.”“It’s wrong to try to replace the elected leaders of a sister democracy, a staunch American ally, at any time, but especially during a time of war,” says Netanyahu.
Prime Minister Netanyahu was determined to defy the Biden White by ordering the capture the last remaining Hamas stronghold of Rafah.
Netanyahu vowed to withstand the U.S. and Western pressure “to stop the war before all its goals are achieved.” The falls of Hamas’s bastion of Rafah is key for attaining the twin Israeli war aims of freeing the hostages and destroying Hamas in Gaza.
Those calling for new elections were inadvertently siding with Hamas. “They do this by trying to bring about elections now, in the midst of the war. And they do this because they know that elections now will stop the war and paralyze the country for at least six months,” the Israeli leader said at a cabinet meeting on Sunday.
The Jerusalem Post reported:
“We will operate in Rafah. It will take a few weeks, but it will happen,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the start of the government meeting on Sunday.”Some in the international community are trying to stop the war before all its goals are achieved. They do this by making false accusations against the IDF, against the Israeli government, and against the Prime Minister of Israel,” Netanyahu added.”They do this by trying to bring about elections now, in the midst of the war. And they do this because they know that elections now will stop the war and paralyze the country for at least six months.” (…)”So let’s be clear,” the prime minister said, “if we stop the war now before all of its goals are achieved, it means that Israel has lost the war, and we will not allow that. That is why we must not give in to these pressures, and we will not give in to them.”
Scathing attacks from President Biden and leading Democrats is having an inverse impact on Israeli public opinion, boosting Prime Minister Netanyahu’s popularity.
Prominent Israeli journalist Benjamin Weinthal noted in Fox News on Sunday:
Having seen his lowest levels of support in months, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s popularity has gotten a bounce in the polls, which some say is partly due to the Biden administration and Democrats’ growing criticism against the Jewish state. (…)Israel’s Channel 14 published a survey Wednesday, a day before Schumer’s broadside against the Jewish state, noting the chance Netanyahu’s conservative bloc could garner an additional six seats in the parliament after Minister-without-Portfolio Gideon Sa’ar ended his partnership with Benny Gantz’s National Unity Party. (…)Polling shows Netanyahu would secure 56 seats in the Israeli Knesset to form a new government. A bloc of parties needs 62 mandates.Mideast expert Caroline Glick told Fox News Digital this dynamic is playing out.”Schumer spoke about Netanyahu, but Netanyahu is simply acting in accordance with the demands of the public. As a result, calls from Schumer and the White House for Netanyahu’s ouster only strengthen him politically,” Glick said.
As Israel’s war with Hamas reaches a crucial phase, the Biden administration may be slowing down the delivery of U.S. weapons to the country, Israeli media reports indicate.
While U.S. official deny the claim, preview news reports suggest that the White House was considering slowing down ‘some weaponry deliveries’ in order to ‘pressure Netanyahu’ into calling off the impending operation against Hamas in Rafah. “U.S. officials are considering pausing or slowing some arms shipments to Israel to convince the government to heed U.S. calls to scale back its military assault in Gaza,” the NBC News reported January 28.
The Times of Israel reported:
The United States has slowed the pace of its military aid to Israel compared to the beginning of the war, according to a report quoting an Israeli official Friday that American officials denied.As ties between the Biden administration and Israel become increasingly strained over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, the unnamed senior Israeli official told ABC News that supply shipments “were coming very fast” when the war erupted after Hamas’s October 7 attack, but “we are now finding that it’s very slow.”The official said Israel was running out of 155 mm artillery shells and 120 mm tank shells. The official also said that it required sensitive guidance equipment, without elaborating.
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