US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer convened a meeting earlier today with executives from major American Jewish organizations to defend the much-talked-about speech he gave last week calling for early elections in Israel to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, one of the community leaders on the call tells The Times of Israel.
“There was a fundamental question of whether he would backpedal or defend himself, and he very clearly defended himself,” says the executive on the call Schumer held with the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.
Schumer stressed that most of his 45-minute speech focused on criticizing Hamas and lamented that the reporting has focused almost solely on his call for early elections, the executive says, speaking on condition of anonymity to share details from the private meeting.
Still, the Senate majority leader reaffirmed his belief that Netanyahu is a danger to Israel, particularly for empowering far-right leaders like Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben Gvir, the executive at the virtual meeting recalls.