Senate leader Schumer urges Israeli election, says Netanyahu ‘has lost his way’

Israeli, Republican officials blast majority leader as he charges PM placing political survival above good of country, constitutes an obstacle to peace, turning Israel into a pariah. US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday called on Israel to hold new elections, saying he believed Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had “lost his way” and was an obstacle to peace in the region. His comments, which sparked anger and swift condemnation by various figures in Jerusalem, came as gaps between the US and Israel continue to grow over the latter’s prosecution of its war in Gaza against Hamas. Schumer, the highest-ranking elected Jewish official in US history, is a longtime pro-Israel stalwart in the Democratic Party, though he has become more critical of Jerusalem’s policies as the country has moved rightward and as he has risen to the leadership of a party that has moved to the left.