President Joe Biden praised a speech by the US Senate leader urging new elections in Israel, saying many Americans shared concerns about Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the Gaza war.
The call by Democratic Senate majority chief Chuck Schumer, the highest-ranking elected Jewish American in history, was the most strident rebuke of Israel yet by a senior US official since Hamas’s October 7 attacks.
“He made a good speech, and I think he expressed serious concern shared not only by him, but by many Americans,” Biden said when asked about the speech after a meeting with Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar at the White House.
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Biden told reporters in the Oval Office that Schumer had contacted his staff to say he was going to make the comments, and added that he was “not going to elaborate on the speech”.
The Schumer speech came amid mounting pressure from Biden on Netanyahu to reduce the number of Palestinians being killed in Gaza, and to let more aid in as famine looms in the enclave.
“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,” said Schumer.
“There needs to be a fresh debate about the future of Israel after October 7.”
Schumer also said the Israeli leader was one of four “major obstacles” to peace alongside Hamas, Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas and radical right-wing Israelis, and accused Netanyahu of surrounding himself with extremists.
During his meeting with Varadkar, who has himself made strong criticisms of Israel over the Gaza war, Biden agreed that a ceasefire was necessary.
“You know my view is that we need a ceasefire as soon as possible to get food and medicine in, to get the hostages out,” Varadkar said, as Biden nodded his head and said “I agree.”
“We need to talk about how we can make that happen and move towards a two-state solution.”
Biden, wearing an emerald green tie to mark Ireland’s Saint Patrick’s Day holiday on Sunday, said that “we both know a lot more has to be done” on aid for Gaza.
The US president also crossed his fingers for luck, but did not comment, when asked by reporters what he thought of Hamas’s new proposal of a six-week truce in Gaza and an exchange of several dozen Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners.