Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has called on Israel to elect a new prime minister to replace Benjamin Netanyahu in order to move towards a lasting peace between Israelis and Palestinians in the form of a two-state solution. 

In what was billed as a major speech on a two-state solution, Schumer said on the Senate floor on Thursday that Netanyahu was one of four obstacles to this solution. 

The majority leader said he believed that ‘Prime Minister Netanyahu has lost his way by allowing his political survival to take the precedence over the best interests of Israel.’

Along with Netanyahu, Schumer listed ‘Hamas, and the Palestinians who support and tolerate their evil ways, radical, right-wing Israelis in government and society, [and] Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas’ as the other obstacles. 

According to Schumer, who is Jewish, Israeli elections are ‘the only way to allow for a healthy and open decision-making process about the future of Israel.’ He added that he believed a majority of Israelis also recognize a need for change in their government. 

In his reasoning for calling on elections to potentially replace Netanyahu, Schumer explained: ‘He has put himself in coalition with far-right extremists like Ministers Smotrich and Ben-Gvir, and as a result, he has been too willing to tolerate the civilian toll in Gaza, which is pushing support for Israel worldwide to historic lows.’

Schumer emphasized that Israel will not be able to overcome such a poor public image. ‘Israel cannot survive if it becomes a pariah,’ he said.

After Schumer’s speech, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R–Ky., took to the floor and addressed the remarks of his Democratic colleague, but did not call him out by name.

‘The Jewish state of Israel deserves an ally that acts like one,’ he said, condemning the call for new Israeli elections as ‘unprecedented.’

‘Israel’s unity, government and security cabinet deserve the deference befitting a sovereign democratic country.’ 

The Kentucky Republican added that ‘foreign observers’ who aren’t able to recognize these important distinctions should not give their own prescriptions. McConnell additionally claimed the Democratic Party’s issue is not with Netanyahu, but with the state of Israel itself.

Michael Herzog, Israeli Ambassador to the U.S., posted his reaction to the news on X, formerly Twitter:

‘Israel is a sovereign democracy. It is unhelpful, all the more so as Israel is at war against the genocidal terror organization Hamas, to comment on the domestic political scene of a democratic ally. It is counterproductive to our common goals.’

As recently as January, Netanyahu rejected the prospect of two states, claiming, ‘I will not compromise on full Israeli security control over all the territory west of Jordan — and this is contrary to a Palestinian state.’ 

The Palestinian Authority has also reiterated its desire for the territories of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem, with Jerusalem as the capital. 

An American nonprofit that has raised millions of dollars for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East – commonly known as UNRWA, – is being sued by 10 survivors and family members of slain victims of the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks on southern Israel who argue the U.S.-based group knowingly provided material support for Hamas and terrorist activities for years.  

The lawsuit was filed earlier this month in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware on behalf of Lishay Lavi, Noach Newman, Adin Gess, Maya Parizer, Natalie Sanandaji, Yoni Diller, Hagar Almog, David Bromberg, Lior Bar Or and Ariel Ein-Gal against the UNRWA USA National Committee., claiming that UNRWA USA and UNRWA are ‘[i]nextricably [l]inked’ in supporting Hamas.

‘501(c)(3) nonprofit organizations generally do good work. They feed the hungry, help the poor, and house the homeless. But on some very rare occasions, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization finances an international terrorist plot that kills over 1,200 innocent people,’ the lawsuit says. ‘This case involves one of those rare occasions.’ 

More than 1,200 Israelis were killed, more than 6,900 civilians are estimated to have been injured, and hundreds more were taken hostage when Hamas launched a surprise attack in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. 

‘During this attack, Hamas terrorists brutally beat, tortured, raped and murdered men, women, and children. But Hamas did not carry out these attacks alone. Rather, they were financed and aided by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and Defendant UNRWA USA National Committee, Inc. (‘UNRWA USA’),’ the suit says.

Earlier this year, the Israeli government accused 12 UNRWA employees of having directly participated in the Oct. 7 attacks, prompting the U.S. and at least a dozen other countries to temporarily suspend funding to the agency amid a United Nations investigation. 

But Mark Goldfeder, one of the attorneys for the plaintiffs, told Fox News Digital that UNRWA USA did not suspend sending money to UNRWA until March 1. 

‘Way too little, way too late. They funded it up until the point, even after the reports came out of UNRWA staff literally participating in the massacre,’ Goldfeder said Wednesday. ‘Even after the United States suspended its own UNRWA donations, even after all of that, they continued fundraising, and they continued sending money.’ 

‘This is the largest private donor to UNRWA, and they have been materially and knowingly, actively, systematically using their quote unquote, charity, to operate a terrorist financing scheme in violation of federal law,’ Goldfeder said. ‘And it’s gotten to the point where the evidence is so overwhelming that even UNRWA USA has now suspended donations to UNRWA because they couldn’t deny it publicly anymore, but they knew all along what they were doing, and they need to be held accountable.’ 

The complaint alleges that UNRWA USA ‘has been and is fully aware that UNRWA works with and for Hamas, providing operational and financial support for their activities, and UNRWA USA aids, abets, and provides material support for those activities under the guise of humanitarian assistance.’ 

‘UNRWA USA collects donations in the United States and then transfers nearly all its funds to UNRWA, which has significant operations in the Gaza Strip,’ the lawsuit says. ‘Once the funds reach the Gaza Strip, UNRWA redistributes those funds to Hamas members on their payroll, some of whom are directly engaged in acts of terrorism, including but not limited to, the October 7th atrocities; to schools that are used to store Hamas’s weapons and other equipment; and to the production of educational materials that promote violence against Jews, including the destruction of the state of Israel.’ 

Fox News Digital reached out to UNRWA USA for comment on the lawsuit, but they did not immediately respond.

The lawsuit alleges that UNRWA USA ‘raises and transfers such funds knowingly, willfully, and with the intention that the funds be used by a designated foreign terrorist organization and its members for terrorist purposes’ and ‘knowingly, willfully, and intentionally works directly and indirectly in confederation and agreement with UNRWA, Hamas, and other terrorist organizations to provide material support to the designated foreign terrorist organizations and their members and for their terrorist activities.’ 

The complaint also states that in addition to having ‘common missions, finances, and activities,’ UNRWA USA and UNRWA ‘also employ overlapping staff.’ It cites posts on social media platform X in which UNRWA USA described an UNRWA employee as a freelance content producer for UNRWA USA and described UNRWA employees as ‘colleagues.’ The lawsuit also states that UNRWA USA board member Karen AbuZayd was appointed UNRWA commissioner-general in 2005, and that in April 2006 she ‘stated that she commonly met with Hamas and would continue to do so.’

The plaintiffs accuse UNRWA USA of violating the Anti-Terrorism Act and the Alien Tort Statute. 

A group of seven Republican senators penned a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland last month demanding the Justice Department open a criminal investigation into UNRWA USA, its principals and its leadership ‘for knowingly providing material support to foreign terrorist organizations, including Hamas.’ 

‘This support facilitated and continues to facilitate terrorism, including the October 7 terrorist attack,’ the letter penned by Sens. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, Marco Rubio, R-Fla., Roger Marshall, R-Ks., Bill Hagerty, R-Tenn., Rick Scott, R-Fla., Pete Ricketts, R-Nebraska, and Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., said. 

According to its 2021 annual report, UNRWA USA dispersed nearly $5 million in donations to UNRWA that year, making the organization UNRWA’s largest institutional donor. In 2004, the senators also noted, the then-UNRWA Commissioner-General Peter Hansen said in an interview, ‘I am sure there are Hamas members on the UNRWA payroll and I don’t see that as a crime.’ 

‘That assessment is incorrect. It is in fact a crime,’ the Feb. 15 letter from the senators said.

In tandem with the civil litigation seeking monetary damages, Goldfeder told Fox News Digital he hopes the DOJ picks up the criminal probe and holds UNRWA USA accountable. 

On Feb. 13, the Senate passed a controversial $95 billion national security supplemental package to assist Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific. It contains a provision that would block funding from going to UNRWA. The Biden administration said it was waiting on the results of the United Nations’ investigation into UNRWA to decide on whether to resume funding.

Growing bipartisan opposition to the relief agency prompted the White House to explore alternative ways to provide humanitarian assistance to Gaza should Congress permanently halt UNRWA funding. The U.S. is UNRWA’s largest donor, usually contributing between $300 million to $400 million annually. 

Lavi, an Israeli citizen, is suing after her husband, Omri Miran, was kidnapped by Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7 and still remains held hostage. Newman’s brother, David Yair Shalom Newman, was killed by Hamas terrorists at the Nova music festival. They both are and were U.S.-Israeli dual citizens. 

Diller, Parizer, Bromberg and Or, dual U.S.-Israeli citizens, and Sanandaji, a U.S. citizen visiting from New York, all managed to escape Hamas’ attack on the Nova festival after fleeing by car and foot – in some cases for hours – while under heavy gunfire and were forced to witness friends and fellow attendees being massacred. Ein-Gal, an Israeli citizen, was asleep on Zikim Beach when swarms of terrorists began infiltrating the coast by boat but managed to escape the attack alive. Gess, a U.S. citizen, and Almog, an Israeli citizen, were not home on their kibbutzes when Hamas attacked but witnessed the massacre of their community members on a shared WhatsApp group loved ones used to beg for help. 

‘They have been through hell. Each of them have been through their own individual hell, and they are still, many of them, in hell,’ Goldfeder said of the plaintiffs.

Around 10% of UNRWA’s Gaza employees have links to the Hamas or Palestinian Islamic Jihad terrorist organizations, and 50% have close relatives who belong to those groups, according to UN Watch. 

‘UNRWA has demonstrated time and time and time again that they are utterly, morally bankrupt. UNRWA is Hamas. In 2004, they admitted that they have Hamas on their payroll and they don’t think that’s a crime. Well, they’re wrong. Under American law, that is a crime. That’s material support for terror,’ Goldfeder said. 

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson says the lower chamber of Congress will fiercely pressure the Senate to approve the bipartisan bill targeting TikTok. 

The bill — which would force Chinese company Bytedance to divest from the social media app or ban it entirely — sailed through the House of Representatives easily yesterday with a 352-65 bipartisan vote.

Its future in the Senate is unknown, as Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer has remained uncommitted to the idea of bringing it to the floor.

‘Let’s see what the House does,’ Schumer told reporters on Tuesday before the bill’s success in the lower chamber. ‘I’ll have to consult — and intend to consult — with my relevant committee chairmen to see what their views would be.’

The overwhelming bipartisan support for the bill thus far will make it difficult for Schumer and other senators to ignore.

‘We’re gonna apply every amount of pressure that we can because we think that that’s the right thing,’ Johnson told the New York Post just hours after the successful vote. 

President Biden has publicly stated he would sign the proposed TikTok divestment legislation if it reached his desk.

By contrast, former President Donald Trump shocked both parties by completely flipping his views on the app since his term in the Oval Office. He urged against the bill, claiming it would only empower other tech giants such as Facebook.

The bill was led in the lower chamber by House China select committee Chair Mike Gallagher, R-Wis., and ranking member Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill.

TikTok’s critics have long warned that the social media app poses a national security threat. Lawmakers have cited concerns about the Chinese government’s ability to leverage its power over Bytedance to access sensitive user data.

China hawks have also warned that the app’s popularity among young Americans gives the ruling Chinese Communist Party a platform for a mass influence campaign.

JERUSALEM – As the U.S. leads a united effort with other nations and international agencies aimed at getting more aid into the war-torn Gaza Strip, critics say the aid coordination is a mess and convoys are being attacked, with the bulk of what is being sent not even reaching the most vulnerable.

Over the past two weeks, more than 500 bundles containing hundreds of thousands of meals have been airdropped into the enclave by countries such as the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Egypt and France, as well as the U.S. On Tuesday, a ship packed with almost 200 metric tons of food set sail for the Strip from Cyprus. Facilitated by the World Central Kitchen, an NGO that provides food aid, the ship is set to reach the enclave’s shores on Thursday, though it is unclear how it will unload with no pier or harbor.

Israeli and U.N. officials have expressed concern that both the airdrops and the maritime efforts are inefficient and ineffective, and do not negate the need for someone on the ground to ensure it reaches those who really need it. There has also been criticism from Gazans, who say the aid is self-serving and, in some cases, not appropriate for their needs. 

‘I don’t think anyone really knows what is going on, and we are only hearing complaints that it is not enough, that it is not going to the right people and that it is too little too late,’ Khaled Abu Toameh, a Palestinian affairs analyst based in Jerusalem, told Fox News Digital. 

‘I haven’t seen one person saying that this is great and now we are happy,’ he said, adding that there have only been complaints from the people in Gaza that the food being sent is expired or that it is not Halal, he claimed.

Multiple videos shared online over the past week showed Palestinians criticizing the airdrop initiative, complaining that the food being dropped was not appropriate and that it was being done for each country’s own self-interest. 

One video showed a Palestinian man complaining about the items contained inside the airdropped packages, saying the food being distributed by the U.S. was not suitable for Arabs. In another short clip, a man identified as Ibrahim from Gaza filmed himself throwing the American aid package into the trash, stating: ‘I don’t want aid from a country that is an accomplice to our starvation and genocide.’

Another video showed Palestinian men running to retrieve the airdropped packages and there were reports from inside the Strip that at least one person had been killed by the falling aid. 

Wes J. Bryant, a retired master sergeant and senior special operations joint terminal attack controller (JTAC) in the elite special warfare branch of the U.S. Air Force, said that based on video footage, the airdrops appeared to have been carried out hastily and over significant urban areas, which was in contrast with standard U.S. Air Force protocols. 

‘This is a concern and would not be done in any setting that a U.S. Drop Zone controller were present – unless absolutely needed,’ he said. ‘These packages are typically pallets with loads of boxes of supplies, secured by netting, and with a chute that deploys upon being pushed out the aircraft ramp. They are very heavy and even when chutes are deployed, they still come in hard and can be deadly.’

Bryant said he was confused by footage of the drops and believes that a trusted source should have been solicited on the ground, ‘not only assist with any drops but corral populace for safety.’

Jamie McGoldrick, the U.N.’s humanitarian coordinator ad interim for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, told Fox News Digital that while he welcomed any initiative to get more food into the Strip, especially into the north, via whatever means, the sea and air efforts were not cost-effective or efficient. 

‘A plane load of 20 or 18 tons of aid costs about $180,000, that is very expensive, and it is about half the weight of an average truck that can take about 20 and 30 kilos of aid, or about 20-30 metric tons, so you can see the cost differentials,’ he said. ‘Trucks are much, much cheaper, and you can get much more for your money.’

McGoldrick said the problem with the airdrops was there was no guarantee where the packages would land and if the people who really needed them would be able to intercept them. He also said that while the maritime initiative was ‘great,’ there would also be a need to transfer the aid using trucks and on roads that were ‘prone to looting and ransacking.’ 

He said a more effective option would be for Israel to open up more land crossings in order for Gaza to be ‘flooded’ with food aid, which would reduce the overall basic needs of the people, reducing the need for looting and thus allowing aid agencies to help those who are more vulnerable. 

On Tuesday, COGAT, the Israeli military unit that coordinates civilian matters with the Palestinian Authority, announced that it had allowed six trucks filled with aid to enter Gaza via a newly opened crossing in the northern part of the Strip. 

A statement by the World Food Program confirmed that enough food for 25,000 people had been successfully delivered to Gaza City for the first time since Feb. 20, but also warned that this – as well as other aid efforts – were not enough. 

Israeli army spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari confirmed to Fox News Digital on Thursday reports that the army was working on a plan to ‘flood’ Gaza with humanitarian aid and was consulting with CENTCOM on how exactly to do this. 

‘With people in northern Gaza on the brink of famine, we need deliveries every day and we need entry points directly into the north,’ the U.N. agency said in a statement. 

Shimon Freedman, COGAT’s international media spokesperson, told Fox News Digital that Israel had not placed ‘any limits on the amount of aid going in’ and that the main barrier was in distributing the aid. 

‘In terms of what is standing in the way of more aid, it is an issue of distribution not inspection,’ he said, adding that COGAT, which monitors the situation on the ground from its base in southern Israel, was ‘happy to coordinate more convoys to the north.’ 

Israel currently inspects all aid going into Gaza at two land crossings – one in Nitzana, where the aid then enters the Strip via the Rafah crossing from Egypt, and the other at Kerem Shalom, on the border with Israel. Once inside, it is up to international aid agencies, including those affiliated with the United Nations, to distribute the goods among the needy even as the situation on the ground has become more volatile with armed groups, including Hamas, stealing the aid. 

He said Israel has been working to increase and streamline its inspections and now had the ability to process as many as 44 trucks an hour. More aid trucks are entering Gaza than previously, Freedman said, describing how over the past few weeks up to 200 truckloads of aid were just left waiting for aid agencies to distribute the goods. 

Freedman said that over the past two weeks, Israel had coordinated with the U.S. and its partners more than 30 airdrops with some 500 packages reaching the northern part of the Strip. 

On Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, perhaps reacting to the criticism regarding aid deliveries, spoke to the press following a video conference call with representatives from Cyprus, the U.N. and other interested parties, and noted that they were coordinating efforts to get the maritime corridor ‘up and running.’ 

Blinken told reporters that ‘The bottom line is we need to see – as we’ve described it, we need to see flooding the zone when it comes to humanitarian assistance for Gaza.’

The U.S. has been the largest provider of aid to Gaza, handing out more than $180 million in assistance to Palestinians there since Oct. 7.  

Hunter Biden’s former business partner, Tony Bobulinski, has criticized the president’s son for ‘running away’ from the American people after he declined to appear for a congressional hearing next week.

Hunter Biden declined an invite from Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., to attend the House Oversight Committee hearing on March 20, when committee members of both parties will get a chance to ask about alleged influence peddling and the Biden family’s business dealings, his lawyer said in a letter Wednesday.

‘One week from today – on Wednesday, March 20 – I will testify publicly before the House Committee on Oversight and Accountability,’ Bobulinski responded in a statement to Fox News Digital. ‘I was disappointed to see the news today that Hunter is running away from his chance to tell the American people the truth. He’s been adamant in wanting to go before the American people, and Oversight is now giving him that opportunity.’

Bobulinski added: ‘Now is the time to step up, Hunter, as you have said you want to do. Don’t cower in the face of accountability and in this fight for truth and democracy!’

Bobulinski previously testified that President Biden ‘enabled’ Hunter to sell access to America’s ‘most dangerous adversaries,’ including China and Russia. 

In his statement, Biden’s former business partner called for ‘truth and transparency’ to prevail.

‘Joe Biden and Hunter Biden, along with countless members of Congress, keep claiming that they are ‘fighting for our Democracy.’ Why don’t we as a nation agree to fight for the truth!’ Bobulinski said. ‘Nearly three-quarters of the American people believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, and I can’t blame them. Truth and transparency would help expose the rot at the center of our political system and begin to fix what ails us.’

‘I am excited and happy to have the opportunity to once again share the facts with the American people. I am deeply committed to getting the full truth before the nation,’ he said, calling for the witnesses in the hearing, including himself, to be subject to a polygraph with ‘real time results to be viewed by the American people.’

‘What better way to ensure that the truth is being told by every witness, including Joe, Hunter and Jim Biden in any future potential hearings?’ he asked.

Bobulinski also openly offered to appear before the committee for an additional hearing whenever it is convenient for Hunter Biden.

‘If by chance March 20th really doesn’t work due to your multiple criminal indictments, please name the date and time and I will be happy to join you at a second hearing for the American people,’ he wrote. 

In addition to Hunter Biden and Bobulinski, the House Oversight Committee invited Devon Archer and Jason Galanis to testify at the 10 a.m. hearing on March 20.

On Wednesday, Biden attorney Abbe Lowell criticized the hearing as a ‘carnival side show.’ 

‘To begin, even if that hearing was a legitimate exercise of congressional authority, neither Mr. Biden nor I can attend because of a court hearing the very next day in California,’ Lowell said in a letter sent to Comer. ‘The scheduling conflict is the least of the issues, however.’

‘Your blatant planned-for-media event is not a proper proceeding but an obvious attempt to throw a Hail Mary pass after the game has ended,’ Lowell wrote. 

‘Mr. Biden declines your invitation to this carnival side show,’ the attorney concluded.

Comer responded Wednesday, saying his committee has ‘called Hunter Biden’s bluff.’ 

‘Hunter Biden for months stated he wanted a public hearing, but now that one has been offered alongside his business associates that he worked with for years, he is refusing to come,’ Comer said.

Fox News’ Brooke Singman contributed to this report.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday said lawlessness, insecurity, and desperation remain hurdles to delivering much-needed humanitarian aid to the people of Gaza who are caught in the crossfire between Israeli soldiers and Hamas militants. 

Blinken said these grim factors cause people to charge trucks delivering aid within the Gaza Strip, believing it may be their only chance to get food. 

‘You have situations where aid goes in and then people immediately charge at the trucks and you see looting. You see criminals get in the act,’ Blinken said. ‘And again, just ordinary civilians who, in the absence of sufficient aid, may believe that their only chance to get a piece of bread is to go at the one truck they see coming in.’ 

Blinken said food prices and the sense of lawlessness would abate when people Gazans have a ‘sustainable, predictable confident supply of assistance going in.’ 

Blinken made no mention of Hamas operatives being complicit in the looting, even though officials both in the U.S. and Israel have raised concerns that the terrorist group was siphoning off deliveries meant for civilians. 

Others have pushed back on this claim. Bill Deere of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) told NewsNation in December that there was ‘no hijacking’ of supplies by Hamas. 

‘The fact of the matter is … all of this is closely watched by both Israel and the United States from the moment it enters the Rafah border crossing or Kerem Shalom all the way to its delivery to people in need,’ Deere said in December. 

David Satterfield, the top U.S. Envoy to Israel, said Israel had not provided sufficient evidence to either him or the Biden administration of ‘diversion or theft of assistance.’ 

But Satterfield did concede that Hamas does ‘shape where and to whom assistance goes.’ 

Fox News Digital has reached out to the State Department for comment. 

Blinken’s comments come nearly a week after President Biden announced that the U.S. military would be building a port in Gaza for delivering humanitarian aid. 

The port, which officials have said will be complete within two months, is expected to provide 2 million meals per day, as well as medicine, water, and other critical humanitarian supplies, Blinken said. 

He emphasized that the port is a complement, not a substitute, for other ways of getting humanitarian assistance into Gaza. 

‘But this will help close the gap, and it’s part of our all of the above strategy to make sure that we’re doing everything possible by every means possible, to surge support to those who need it be land, by sea, by air,’ he said. 

Gaza’s Hamas-run Health Ministry said more than 31,000 Palestinians have been killed since Oct. 7, though Israel has disputed these figures. The ministry doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count, but says women and children make up two-thirds of the dead.

Some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed in southern Israel during the Hamas-led incursion on Oct. 7 that sparked the war. Around 250 people were abducted. Hamas is believed to still be holding about 100 hostages.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. 

South Africa’s foreign minister said any of her country’s citizens who travel to fight in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) in the Gaza Strip will face arrest when they return home, a move that is sure to further the deteriorating relations between both nations. 

Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor made the comment earlier this week at a Palestinian solidarity event attended by officials from South Africa’s ruling African National Congress party.

‘I have already issued a statement alerting those who are South African and are fighting alongside or in the Israeli Defense Forces: We are ready. When you come home, we are going to arrest you,’ Pandor said, to rapturous applause from the audience.

In December, the foreign ministry said that the government was concerned that some of its citizens or permanent residents had joined the IDF to fight in Gaza. They could face prosecution if they hadn’t been granted permission to do so under South Africa’s arms control laws, the ministry warned. 

Those with dual South African-Israeli citizenship could be stripped of their South African citizenship, the foreign ministry said.

South Africa has been a vocal supporter of the Palestinian cause and has accused Israel of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip as Israeli soldiers continue to battle Hamas following the terror group’s Oct. 7 attacks on the Jewish state. 

South Africa has charged in the International Court of Justice that Israel is committing genocide. 

In January, U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., criticized South Africa for bringing a genocide case against Israel, saying the African nation should focus on quelling unrest on its own continent.

‘And now South Africa… bringing that kind of trial. Maybe South Africa ought to sit this one out when they’re talking about criticizing the behavior of another nation. Sit out!,’ Fetterman said while speaking at the Orthodox Union luncheon in Washington, D.C.

Israel has denied any claims that it has enforced an apartheid state on Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.

It was not clear how many South Africans have fought for Israel during the current conflict. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.