It is "disgraceful" and "unbecoming" for Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., to call for regime change in Israel with their demands against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., told Newsmax.
"What you're seeing from Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi is them putting electoral politics ahead of U.S. national security interests," Lawler told Wednesday's "Wake Up America." "They both need to stop immediately."
Democrats speak out often about election interference from foreign governments, but that is what Pelosi, Schumer, and others are doing by demanding that Netanyahu resign, Lawler lamented.
"It is undermining Israel's ability to defend itself at a time when America needs to be standing shoulder to shoulder with Israel," Lawler said.
Pelosi this week joined calls for Netanyahu to resign, coming about a month after Schumer called for Israel to hold new elections and vote the prime minister out.
Meanwhile, Lawler will join House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., at Columbia University on Wednesday, where the speaker plans to speak with Jewish students about the anti-Israel protests that have caused chaos at the school.
There has been some talk that former President Donald Trump, who will not be in court in Manhattan on Wednesday because of the court's day off, will join Johnson at Columbia, but Lawler said he has not heard about that. However, he said it would not surprise him.
The protests, Lawler said, are a continuance of what is going on at college campuses nationwide because of a rapid rise in antisemitism and "ignorance of what's going on in the Middle East."
"Hamas is a terrorist organization that is solely responsible for what happened on Oct. 7," he added. "Israel has a right to defend itself."
Lawler also said anyone in the United States on a visa who is found to be participating in antisemitic attacks should be "deported immediately," and students involved in threats of violence or physical harm should be arrested and expelled.
The congressman recently introduced legislation to stop antisemitism on college campuses that would strip schools like Columbia of all federal dollars including student aid for promoting and sanctioning protests and other acts against Jewish students and staff.
"President [Minouche] Shafik has a responsibility to ensure the safety and well-being of all students on campus and her failure to do so should result in her termination," Lawler said.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden is "getting his talking points" from people like Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and trying to equate how the Jewish college students feel compared to the Palestinians, according to Lawler.
"The reason the Palestinian people are going through difficult times is because of Hamas," he concluded. "All of these pro-Hamas protesters should be demanding Hamas surrender and release all of the hostages. That's where the protest should be aimed at.
"Instead, they continue to attack Jewish students and the Jewish people here in America."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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