Netanyahu ‘obstacle to peace’
•Leader of US Senate launches devastating attack on Israeli prime minister, calls for election •Israeli troops shoot dead 6 Palestinians in Gaza after opening fire on crowds waiting for food
There were growing signs on Thursday of a collapse in support for Israel from its closest ally as the leader of the US Senate launched a devastating and unprecedented attack on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Chuck Schumer — a Democrat, the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in the US and a long-time backer of Israel — said Netanyahu was an obstacle to peace, and called for new elections.
Schumer’s speech
reflected growing frustration in Washington with Netanyahu, his management of the war, failure to do more to protect Palestinian civilians and obstruction of aid deliveries in Gaza. Netanyahu had been “too willing to tolerate the civilian toll in Gaza, which is pushing support for Israel worldwide to historic lows. It cannot survive if it becomes a pariah,” Schumer said.
“As a democracy, Israel has the right to choose its own leaders, and we should let the chips fall where they may. But the important thing is that Israelis are given a choice. In my opinion, that is best accomplished by holding an election.
“If Prime Minister Netanyahu’s
coalition … continues to pursue dangerous and inflammatory policies that test US standards for assistance, then the US will have no choice but to play a more active role in shaping Israeli policy by using our leverage to change its course.”
In Gaza, Israeli troops shot dead six Palestinians and wounded dozens as throngs of people waited for aid trucks in Gaza City.
Palestinians were awaiting the arrival of food deliveries at the Kuwait roundabout in the north of the city when Israeli forces began shooting.
The latest attack followed the massacre on Feb. 29, when Israeli forces opened fire on people scrambling for food from aid trucks near Gaza City and more than 100 Palestinians were killed. At Al-Nuseirat camp in the central Gaza Strip on Thursday, eight people were killed in an Israeli airstrike on an aid distribution center.
In Deir Al-Balah, also in central Gaza, an Israeli missile hit a house, killing nine people.
Israeli bombardments continued on areas across the enclave, including Rafah in the south, where up to 1.5 million people have sought refuge after fleeing their homes elsewhere. Hamas called for an escalation of protests and attacks against Israel on the first Friday of Ramadan. “We call upon our revolution youth, the brigades of resistance in all of the West Bank, in the neighborhoods of Jerusalem to rise in massive rallies,” the militant group said.