Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., on Thursday called for the removal of major obstacles to a two-state solution between Israelis and Palestinians, which he said include Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

In a speech on the Senate floor, Schumer, the highest-ranking Jewish official in American history, recommended Israel hold new elections.

“I believe, in his heart, his [Netanyahu’s] highest priority is the security of Israel,” Schumer said. “ However, I also believe Prime Minister Netanyahu has lost his way by allowing his political survival to take precedence over the best interests of Israel.”

Schumer criticized Netanyahu for saying he would reject a two-state solution after the war with Hamas has ended, for forming coalitions with far-right “extremists” in the Israeli government and for pushing for policies that Schumer said is eroding global support for Israel.

“As a lifelong supporter of Israel, it has become clear to me the Netanyahu coalition no longer fits the needs of Israel after Oct. 7 [when Hamas attacked Israel],” the Senate majority leader said. “The world has changed radically since then, and the Israeli people are being stifled right now by a governing vision that is stuck in the past.”

In January, Netanyahu said he “will not compromise on full Israeli control” over Gaza. U.S. President Joe Biden has argued the only way to bring long-term peace to the region is to establish two states.

Schumer acknowledged that a new election could result in Netanyahu winning, but “the important thing is that Israelis are given a choice,” he said. Schumer said if Netanyahu remained in power, the U.S. “will have no choice but to play a more active role in shaping Israeli policy by using our leverage to change the president course.”

Schumer also called for Arab countries to pressure Abbas “to step down and to support a gradual succession plan for responsible Palestinian leaders to take his place.”

Abbas, Schumer said, has shunned democracy by refusing to hold elections for more than a decade. Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority remains corrupt and continues to incite instability, he added. 

“Should Abbas remain, the Palestinian people can have no assurance that a Palestinian state would be able to ensure their safety or prosperity, nor can they have any belief that the government would be free of corruption,” Schumer said.

The Senate majority leader said there were four roadblocks to a two-state solution. In addition to Netanyahu and Abbas, he listed Hamas and “radical right-wing Israelis in government” as the others.

Hamas, a terrorist organization that controls the Gaza Strip, is “for the destruction of Israel,” Schumer said. 

“Any proposal that leaves Hamas with meaningful power is unacceptable to me and most Israelis,” Schumer said. “So it goes without saying that Hamas cannot have any role in the future Gaza if we are to achieve peace.”

Schumer also condemned Palestinians who support Hamas. 

And he blasted far-right Israeli Cabinet members Bezalel Smotrich, the country’s finance minister, and Itamar Ben-Gvir, the national security minister. 

Smotrich has called “for the subjugation and forced displacement of all Palestinians in the West Bank,” Schumer said. Ben-Gvir took his supporters to Jerusalem’s Temple Mount “as a brazen show of force towards Palestinians” and facilitated the distribution of guns to far-right Israeli settlers in the West Bank, “exacerbating instability, fueling violence,” the Senate majority leader said.

“There's a nastiness to what ministers Smotrich and Ben-Gvir believe and how they use their positions of authority and influence and eagerness to inflame and provoke that is profoundly irresponsible and self destructive.”

Schumer had a message for his own country, too, saying the U.S. must work with allies “to bring our immense diplomatic and financial power to bear on this situation.”

“The U.S. government should demand that Israel conduct itself with a future two-state solution in mind,” he said. “We should not be forced into a position of unequivocally supporting the actions of an Israeli government that include bigots who reject the idea of the Palestinian state.”

He said the United States’ bond with Israel is “unbreakable,” but added that its support for Israel must be aligned with its goal of achieving peace and stability in the region.

Earlier in his 43-minute speech, Schumer called out both Israel and Hamas over the soaring death toll of civilians in the Gaza Strip.

“Every single innocent life loss, whether Israeli or Palestinian, is a tragedy … ,” Schumer said. “What horrifies so many Jews especially is our sense that Israel is falling short of upholding these distinctly Jewish values that we hold so dear. We must do be we must be better than our enemies, lest we become them.”

But he said Hamas shares the blame — for attacking Israeli civilians and then hiding behind behind its own people when Israel retaliated with force.

“Hamas has knowingly invited an immense civilian toll during this war,” Schumer said.

Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Herzog posted on X, formerly Twitter, after Schumer’s speech: “Israel is a sovereign democracy. It is unhelpful, all the more so as Israel is at war against the genocidal terror organization Hamas, to comment on the domestic political scene of a democratic ally. It is counterproductive to our common goals.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called Schumer’s wish for new Israeli elections “grotesque,” Bloomberg News reported.

"Israel is not a colony of America,” he reportedly said.

Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, called it “a shameful attack on Israel's … right to exist and defend itself.”

“I think if you stand with Israel, then you need to help them while they eliminate the Hamas threat and acknowledge the fact that this is just one of the proxies for Iran, which is the head of the octopus,” he told Spectrum News. 

Senate Minority Whip John Thune, R-S.D., also criticized Schumer’s remarks. 

"Israel's a friend and an ally, and if this is the way that your friend treats you, who needs enemies?” he told Spectrum News. “I mean, I just think the that's a big mistake for us to try and dictate what's happening in a good friend and an ally who has been viciously attacked by a terrorist organization and right now is, you know, fighting for their very survival.”

But Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, who is Jewish, applauded the Senate majority leader’s address.

“This is a gutsy, historic speech from Leader Schumer,” Schatz wrote on X. “I know he didn’t arrive at this conclusion casually or painlessly.”

Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman said that he agreed with some of Schumer's comments, but said he doesn't believe the U.S. should be "intervening" in another country's elections.

"I wouldn’t want any nation, even our closest allies, to have influence on our elections," he told reporters.