Netanyahu to address Senate Republicans amid Schumer scrap

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will speak to Senate Republicans on Wednesday as tensions escalate between him and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) over the future of Israel and its war with Hamas in Gaza.

Netanyahu will address the Senate GOP conference via video at their weekly lunch, a spokesperson for Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) told The Hill.

The Israeli prime minister was slated to speak to Senate Republicans last week during their annual retreat, but he had to back out at the last minute. Israeli Ambassador Michael Herzog attended in his stead. 

The news comes after Schumer, the highest ranking Jewish elected official in history, called for new elections in Israel amid the war in Gaza. He said Netanyahu has “lost his way” and that a two-state solution toward peace cannot be reached without new leadership. 

The remarks caused a firestorm on Capitol Hill and in Israel, prompting Senate Republicans to intensely criticize Schumer for what they said is meddling and interfering in a democratic nation’s elections. 

Top Israeli leaders, including Netanyahu and Benny Gantz, a member of the wartime Cabinet who is considered the Netanyahu’s top rival, also criticized Schumer’s speech.

“I think what he said is totally inappropriate,” Netanyahu told CNN on Sunday. “It’s inappropriate to go to a sister democracy and try to replace the elected leadership there. That’s something the Israeli public does on its own.”

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) also told reporters he spoke with Netanyahu on Wednesday morning.

Schumer on Tuesday further defended his decision to speak out, saying he felt an obligation to speak out. 

“This is so part of my core, my soul, my neshama,” Schumer told The New York Times, using the Hebrew term for soul. “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.”