Schumer says he considered calling on Netanyahu to step down, worries Israel will become a pariah under his leadership

US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says he considered calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to step down in a speech last week, in which he argued for early elections in Israel to replace the premier but ultimately decided against it so as not to be seen as lecturing Israel.

“I wrestled with myself — maybe I should say Bibi should step down,” Schumer tells The New York Times in an interview, explaining why he decided against the move. “That is telling Israel what to do, and it’s in the middle of a war.”

He ended up being accused by Netanyahu and Republican rivals of interfering in Israeli politics anyway.

Schumer clarifies that while he didn’t want to overstep, focusing on policy disagreements instead of calling out Netanyahu, who he termed “the fount of the problems,” would be insufficient.

In the Senate floor speech last week, Schumer branded Netanyahu as one of four obstacles to peace along with Hamas, the Israeli far-right and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

“I said to myself, ‘This may hurt me politically; this may help me politically.’ I couldn’t look myself in the mirror if I didn’t do it,” Schumer recalls.

He says the main purpose of the speech “was to say you can still love Israel and feel strongly about Israel and totally disagree with Bibi Netanyahu and the policies of Israel.”

“Bibi could prevent any election until 2026,” he says.

“I worry under his leadership, Israel would become such a pariah in the world and even in the United States, because I look at the numbers and they’re rapidly decreasing. I had to speak out before it erodes,” Schumer continues, adding that Israel’s “future could well be over” without US support.

Schumer reveals that he spent two months and ten drafts preparing for the speech and updated the White House a day in advance in order to ensure that it would not interfere with negotiations to free the hostages in Gaza.