Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s has denounced Senate Majority Leader Chucky Schumer’s call for new elections in Israel as unacceptable interference in a “sister democracy” as well as other who have already forgotten October 7 and show they have lost their “moral conscience.” Schumer said that Netanyahu “has lost his way.”

“Israel is at war,” Netanyahu declared, emphasizing the nation’s existential struggle against Hamas and its unyielding commitment to defeating the terror organization. Amidst the backdrop of a devastating surprise attack by Hamas, his resolve remains unshaken, asserting that the goal of the war is clear: “to defeat the murderous enemy, ensure our existence in our land.” Schumer’s remarks he said were “wholly inappropriate. It shouldn’t have been said. It’s wrong.”

He stressed that the vast majority of the Israeli people support his war goals of bringing down Hamas, including going into Rafah.

Netanyahu’s plans for an operation again the last bastions of Hamas were approved by the cabinet. He said that the move was weeks away, possibly right after Ramadan if not before. “We will operate in Rafah. It will take a few weeks, but it will happen, he sternly said at the start of the government’s cabinet meeting Sunday.

Netanyahu’s Likud party also responed to Schumer’s call for Israeli elections to replace Netanyahu was swift and sharp, framing it as an affront to Israel’s democratic integrity and an underestimation of the Israeli public’s support for a decisive victory over Hamas. The party’s statement emphasized that “Israel is an independent and proud democracy” and not a “banana republic.”

“Some in the international community are trying to stop the war before all its goals are achieved. They do this by making false accusations against the IDF, against the Israeli government, and against the Prime Minister of Israel,” he added.

“They do this by trying to bring about elections now, in the midst of the war. So let’s be clear,” the prime minister said, “if we stop the war now before all of its goals are achieved, it means that Israel has lost the war, and we will not allow that. That is why we must not give in to these pressures, and we will not give in to them.”

Netanyahu went on: “And to our friends in the international community I say: Is your memory so short? So quickly did you forget October 7, the most terrible massacre committed against Jews since the Holocaust?

“So quickly are you ready to deny Israel’s the right to defend itself against Hamas? Did you lose your moral conscience so quickly?”