Joe Lieberman slams Schumer for anti-Netanyahu speech: ‘Can’t ever remember anything like it’
Joe Lieberman slams Schumer for anti-Netanyahu speech: ‘Can’t ever remember anything like it’
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Published March 17, 2024, 5:00 p.m. ET
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Former Sen. Joe Lieberman on Sunday blasted Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer for calling for an election to replace Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, denouncing the New York Democrat’s remarks as “outrageous.”
“I thought the statement he made this week … was a mistake. I can’t ever remember anything like it,” Lieberman told host John Catsimatidis on the “Cats Roundtable” on WABC 770 AM.
Lieberman, 82, a former Democratic senator from Connecticut who later became an Independent before his 2013 retirement, was the first Jewish-American to appear on a presidential ticket when then-Vice President Al Gore tapped him as his running mate in 2000.
“For a US senator — let alone the majority leader; let alone the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in Washington — to tell Israel that it’s time to get rid of Netanyahu, that’s outrageous,” Lieberman said of Schumer.
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In an extraordinary speech from the Senate floor on Thursday, Schumer, 73, called for a “new election” in Israel after the conclusion of the Jewish state’s war with Hamas, which has been raging in Gaza and the West Bank since Oct. 7.
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“As a lifelong supporter of Israel, it’s become clear to me that the Netanyahu coalition no longer fits the needs of Israel after Oct. 7,” Schumer said, referring to the day of the Palestinian terror group Hamas’ slaughter in Israel, which sparked the war.
Schumer singled out Netanyahu and “radical” members of his security cabinet as an “obstacle” to peace.
His remarks joined a growing chorus of criticism emanating from the Democratic Party’s progressive wing, which blames Israel for not doing more to minimize civilian casualties among Palestinians as it tries to eradicate Hamas.
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The top-ranking Senate Democrat’s words drew swift and strong rebukes from Republicans and Israeli leaders alike, including Netanyahu himself, who on Sunday fired back at Schumer for his “totally inappropriate” speech.
“I think what he said is totally inappropriate. It’s inappropriate for him to go to a sister democracy and try to replace the elected leadership there,” Netanyahu said on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.
“That’s something that [the] Israeli public does on its own. We’re not a banana republic.”
