Diaspora Affairs Minister Amichai Chikli responded on Wednesday to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) after he once again called for Israel to hold elections.
“Dear Senator Schumer, with your tremendous enthusiasm for Israeli politics, don't forget that the gates of Israel are open to you. You are more than welcome to immigrate and vote in the next elections. Until then, please respect our democracy,” Chikli wrote on social media.
He was responding to an earlier post by Schumer, who called on Israel to hold elections, citing National Unity Party chairman Benny Gantz’s call for elections.
“When a leading member of Israel’s war cabinet calls for early elections and over 70% of the Israeli population agrees according to a major poll, you know it’s the right thing to do,” Schumer wrote in a post on social media.
His comment came after Gantz, at the conclusion of a press conference on the Gaza war, said, "In order for us to maintain unity, the public must know that we will soon come and ask for their trust. Let us not ignore October 7. For this reason we must agree on an election date around September. I discussed such a date with political leaders. Elections will prevent a split in the nation, because soon we will renew the trust between the people and their leaders."
This is not the first time that Schumer has called for new elections in Israel. Last month, he caused an uproar when he gave a speech from the Senate floor, in which he also claimed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “lost his way” and called Netanyahu an "obstacle to peace."
Officials in both the US and Israel criticized Schumer at the time, though President Joe Biden later indicated he supported Schumer’s remarks.
"He made a good speech," Biden said in the Oval Office when asked by reporters asked about Schumer's remarks.
Netanyahu later responded to Schumer’s remarks in an interview with CNN, calling them “totally inappropriate.”
Schumer then said he considered calling for Netanyahu to step down in his recent controversial speech, but decided against doing that because it would cross a red line.