From the New York Times, I'm Michael Bobaro.

This is the Daily.

Today, in a speech without precedent, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called for Israelis to hold an election and vote out their current leader.

Soon after, my colleague Annie Carney sat down with Schumer

to understand why he did it.

It's Friday, March 22nd. And this story begins with a speech. So let's start there. Tell us about this speech.

I rise to speak today about what I believe can and should be the path forward to secure

mutual peace and lasting prosperity for Israelis and Palestinians.

So last Thursday, without much warning, Chuck Schumer, the Senate majority leader, took to the

Senate floor and started delivering what

ended up being a really personal, really meaty speech about his Jewish identity and

about Israel.

I speak for myself, but I also speak for so many mainstream

Jewish Americans, a silent majority whose nuanced views on the matter have never been well represented in this country's

discussions about the war in Gaza.

So he starts by describing himself and giving a sense of why he sees himself as a guardian of the people of Israel.

Of course, my first responsibility is to America and to New York.

But as the first Jewish majority leader of the United States Senate

and the highest ranking Jewish elected official in America ever, I also feel very keenly my responsibility as a Shomare Israel, a guardian of the people of Israel. But he quickly turns to the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza and describes some of the suffering and displacement there.

Entire families wiped down, whole neighborhoods reduced to rubble, mass displacement,

children suffering.

And he gets to his point very quickly that Israel has a moral obligation to do better.

...