US Senate majority leader urges Israel to make 'significant course corrections'

Israel must make "significant course corrections" to achieve peace with the Palestinians, US Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said Thursday.

"After five months of suffering on both sides of this conflict, our thinking must turn urgently to how we can achieve lasting peace and endure and ensure prosperity and security for both the Jewish people and the Palestinian people in the Middle East.

"I believe that to achieve that lasting peace, which we so long for, Israel must make some significant course corrections," the senior Democrat said on the Senate floor about a two-state solution for Israel and Palestinians.

Schumer urged talks to do everything possible to get a cease-fire and hostage release deal.

What Hamas did on Oct. 7 was "brutal beyond imagination," said Schumer, adding more than 130 hostages remain captive in Gaza.

He said it is a "grave mistake" for Israel to reject a two-state solution.

"As a staunch defender of Israel, I rise today to say unequivocally, this is a grave mistake for Israel, for Palestinians, for the region, and for the world.

"The only real and sustainable solution to this decades-old conflict is a negotiated two-state solution, a demilitarized Palestinian state, living side by side with Israel in equal measures of peace, security, prosperity, dignity and mutual recognition," he said.

To achieve a two-state solution, the reality is that things must change, said Schumer.

He added there are four "major obstacles" standing in the way: “Hamas and the Palestinians who support and tolerate their evil ways. Radical right-wing Israelis in government and society, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu," he said.