On Thursday’s broadcast of CNN’s “The Lead,” 2024 U.S. Senate candidate Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) responded to Senate Majority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) calling for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be removed from office by acknowledging that we usually don’t call for the ouster of leaders of allied nations, but “the tone, I think, is an important sort of moment for Prime Minister [Netanyahu] to sort of say, look, this is a stalwart supporter of Israel who has concerns and I need to hear that.”
Host Jake Tapper asked, “Johnson and McConnell, and I’ve heard actually a lot of Democrats, too, harshly criticizing Leader Schumer for calling for a new election and the removal, essentially, by the Israeli people, of Prime Minister Netanyahu. What was your take on that? Did you find it inappropriate?”
Slotkin responded, “I think that the sentiment behind it is that, again, in an era where, for 60, 70 years, we’ve had bipartisan support for Israel, and that’s when it’s most strong and durable, that relationship, he’s indicating, as someone who’s a lifelong supporter of Israel, that he’s got issues with the Prime Minister and sort of the tone and the approach. Whether to call for new elections, typically we don’t do that with allied nations. But the tone, I think, is an important sort of moment for Prime Minister [Netanyahu] to sort of say, look, this is a stalwart supporter of Israel who has concerns and I need to hear that.”
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