Centrist pro-Israel groups offer tepid responses to Schumer’s call for elections to replace Netanyahu

A pair of centrist, pro-Israel organizations have offered tepid responses to a speech Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer gave in which he called for elections in Israel to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The American Jewish Committee says it “appreciates… Schumer’s continual and passionate defense of Israel and the Jewish people, but we do not believe it is appropriate for US officials to try to dictate the electoral future of any ally.”

“Israel is a sovereign democracy in the midst of a war of self-defense against a terrorist organization bent on massacring Jews and destroying Israel. The Israeli people will decide their own political path,” AJC adds. “We commend Leader Schumer for clearly putting Israel’s security and the plight of the hostages front and center, underscoring the need for new Palestinian leadership, and emphasizing Hamas’s horrific brutality and disregard for the wellbeing of the Palestinian people.”

Democratic Majority for Israel President and CEO Mark Mellman says, “While we do not agree with everything in Leader Schumer’s speech, we thank him for reminding the country, and the world, that Israel is a democracy and has a right to defend itself.”

“He spoke clearly about Hamas’s unspeakable evil, of their responsibility for civilian casualties in Gaza, and of the need to dismantle Hamas so they no longer play any role in Gaza,” Mellman continues. “Leader Schumer reiterated that ‘a permanent ceasefire, effective immediately, would only allow Hamas to regroup and launch further attacks on Israeli civilians.”

“He criticized the media and protestors who ‘ignore Hamas’s role in the conflict’ and their responsibility for civilian casualties, labeling them ‘unfair, one-sided and deliberately manipulative.”

“The Majority Leader also spoke plainly about the need to get more aid to Gaza’s civilians and do as much as possible to preserve civilian lives, while reiterating his support for a two-state solution,” the DMFI CEO adds.