Israel losing ‘biggest supporters in U.S.’ because of Netanyahu: Opposition leader

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid on Thursday said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is making Israel lose its "biggest supporters" in the U.S.

Lapid's remarks came after U.S. Democratic Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer criticized Netanyahu and called for holding new elections in Israel.

Schumer said that Netanyahu's coalition "no longer fits the needs of Israel after October 7."

Lapid said that Schumer's call for elections in Israel is "proof that one by one (Netanyahu) is losing Israel's biggest supporters in the U.S."

"Netanyahu is causing significant damage to the national effort to win the war and maintain Israel's security," he added.

Netanyahu and the U.S. Biden administration have different viewpoints on the post-war plans for Gaza. While Netanyahu insists on keeping Israeli security control over the besieged Palestinian enclave, Washington backs the idea of putting the Palestinian Authority to rule Gaza.

Israel has launched a retaliatory offensive on Gaza since a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7. The offensive has killed more than 31,000 victims and injured nearly 73,000 others amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Palestinian enclave, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

About 85% of Gazans have been displaced by the Israeli onslaught amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in an interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.