US Senate majority leader supports early Israeli elections as 'right thing to do’

By Diyar Guldogan

WASHINGTON (AA) - The US Senate majority leader supported remarks from a top Israeli official Wednesday who called for new elections in Israel.

"When a leading member of Israel’s war cabinet calls for early elections and over 70% of the Israeli population agrees according to a major poll, you know it’s the right thing to do," Chuck Schumer wrote on X.

His remarks came after Israeli War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz called for elections in September.

"We must agree on a date for elections in September, about a year from the war,” Gantz said in a televised briefing, according to the media reports. "Setting such a date will allow us to continue the military effort while signaling to the citizens of Israel that we will soon renew their trust in us."

Schumer previously urged new elections in Israel and harshly criticized the leadership of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Democrat leader said he believed Netanyahu had "lost his way" by allowing his political survival to take precedence over the best interests of Israel.

"Israel cannot survive if it becomes a pariah," he said last month. "As a lifelong supporter of Israel, it has become clear to me that Netanyahu’s coalition no longer fits the needs of Israel after Oct. 7.”

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7 cross-border attack by Hamas which killed less than 1,200 people.

Nearly 32,800 Palestinians have since been killed and 75,300 injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities. Israel has imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which on Thursday asked Tel Aviv to do more to prevent famine in Gaza.