Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu railed Sunday against growing criticism from top ally the United States against his leadership amid the devastating war with Hamas, describing calls for a new election as “wholly inappropriate.”

In recent days, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish official in the country and a strong Israel supporter, called on Israel to hold a new election, saying Netanyahu had “lost his way.” President Joe Biden expressed support for Schumer’s “good speech,” and earlier accused Netanyahu of hurting Israel because of the huge civilian death toll in Gaza.

Netanyahu told Fox News that Israel never would have called for a new U.S. election after the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001, and denounced Schumer’s comments as inappropriate.

“We’re not a banana republic,” he said. “The people of Israel will choose when they will have elections, and who they’ll elect, and it’s not something that will be foisted on us.”

  • RedWeasel@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    “We’re not a banana republic,”

    If that is the case then they should refuse US foreign aid.

      • RedWeasel@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        I simply quoted what he stated. If it wasn’t for US financial aid Israel probably couldn’t exist as a country so they are not going to stop accepting aid. Hamas couldn’t have reasonably expected to win, so they must have had a different goal, most likely to turn the world against Israel and Netanyahu has pretty much stomped right through that door and has no issue pushing forward. If that was their goal they appear to be succeeding.

        • bartolomeo@suppo.fi
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          9 months ago

          I guess it was just him commenting on the western hemisphere that surprised me.

          “You can’t force an election on us, what do we look like to you, a bunch of Latinos?!

          You’re right though, no surprise there. Rascists gonna racist.