U.S. doesn't "agree with everything" Israel does, but elections up to them: Kirby
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White House National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby said Sunday that it's up to the Israeli people and their government to decide to hold new elections, days after Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) urged such a move occur.
The big picture: Schumer levied some of the harshest criticism yet of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from a senior U.S. official, as discontent grows among President Biden and members of his administration about the prime minister's policies.
Catch up quick: Schumer slammed Netanyahu in a Senate floor speech last week, saying new elections are the "only way to allow for a healthy and open decision-making process about the future of Israel."
- Biden expressed his support for Schumer's remarks, saying it was a "good speech," though he said he would not elaborate.
- On Sunday, Netanyahu refused to commit to holding new elections, calling comments in Schumer's speech "totally inappropriate."
What he's saying: Kirby said Biden "understands that that's up to the Israeli people" concerning whether they hold new elections, per an interview on ABC's "This Week" Sunday.
- Kirby said it's also "up to the Israeli government that they elect to determine whether and how, if there's going to be new elections, what that would look like."
Kirby added that Israel is "a democratic country" and cited the U.S.' need to "respect their sovereignty."
- "In the meantime, [Netanyahu] is the prime minister of Israel. [Biden and Netanyahu] are two leaders that have had a long working relationship," he said.
- "They don't agree on everything. We don't agree on everything with respect to what's going on in Gaza, but that's the government that is in place, and that's the government, the war cabinet, that we're gonna continue to work with."
Zoom out: Recent polls in Israel showed that more than 65% of Israelis support early elections when the war is over, and that if elections were held today Netanyahu and his coalition would be defeated, Axios' Barak Ravid reports.
Go deeper: Netanyahu won't commit to elections, calls Schumer's speech "inappropriate"
