Schumer Says He Criticized Netanyahu to Save Israel

To save Israel, Chuck Schumer decided, he had to denounce its leader, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The 73-year-old Senate majority leader spent two months laboring over the wording of a speech he expected would rock Washington and ricochet across America’s Jewish community. He didn’t talk to people about it, other than a small group of staff and his wife. He didn’t know if the politics would help or hurt him, he said. But he said he ultimately decided it didn’t matter.

“A lot of thought and wrestling in my head: Is this the right thing to...