Amid eroding Democratic support for Israel, the presidential prospect says Israel’s prime minister has led his country into a “dead end.”
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TEL AVIV — Rahm Emanuel, the former Chicago mayor and potential Democratic presidential candidate, sharply criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a speech here Wednesday, accusing him of leading his country to unprecedented diplomatic isolation.
“The prime minister and his government have led Israel into a dead end,” Emanuel said. Citing the importance of pursuing both military strength and peace talks, he added, “Prime Minister Netanyahu has done the former to the exclusion of the latter, and as a direct result, support for Israel is plummeting around the world.”
During a five-day visit to Israel, Emanuel has met with the country’s president, Isaac Herzog, whose post is ceremonial, but not with Netanyahu. “I’m not going to give the prime minister an opportunity to twist this politically,” Emanuel told reporters before his speech.
Netanyahu’s office declined to comment. Some of the prime minister’s allies suggested Emanuel was not an important enough figure to merit a response.
Others put him in a long line of Jews with what they consider self-destructive views. “There will be a place for Rahm Emanuel in between Karl Marx and Bernie Sanders when the next edition of The Vanishing Jew is published,” Michael Eisenberg, an American Israeli venture capitalist who is also an adviser to Netanyahu, wrote on X.
Emanuel, who served as a congressman and U.S. ambassador to Japan, is visiting Israel at a time when the U.S. political dynamic has turned sharply against the country. The prospective Democratic 2028 presidential candidates have already begun facing questions about their past support for Israel from liberals demanding a tougher stand.
Emanuel’s connection to Israel is especially notable and was in evidence during Wednesday’s speech. He choked up as he spoke of visiting his uncle’s grave site at Israel’s Mount of Olives cemetery, and he noted that his father was born in Jerusalem.
But most of his talk was devoted to the message that the United States would not continue to support Netanyahu’s reliance on unbridled military power. “Today you may be more strategically secure; however, you’re more diplomatically isolated than ever,” Emanuel said. “That is a choice this government has made.”
After Hamas operatives surged over the Hamas border Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 250 hostages, American public opinion was largely sympathetic toward Israel. But since Israel launched a retaliatory attack on Gaza that has killed more than 70,000 Palestinians, many Americans, especially Democrats, have turned against the country.
Emanuel, in his speech, proposed a plan under which Israel and the Middle East Arab nations would grant each other official recognition and economic cooperation. At the same time, the Arab countries would take responsibility for fostering a credible Palestinian leadership.
Emanuel suggested he would not mourn if Netanyahu is defeated in Israel’s upcoming parliamentary elections, which are expected to take place in October. “This is not just another election for Israel, but it is going to be a consequential election,” he told reporters.
Herzog, in a social media post after meeting with Emanuel, said it is critical that Israel leaders keep up good relations with both Democrats and Republicans in the United States — something Emanuel said Netanyahu has failed to do, choosing instead to align with the GOP.
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“I underscored the importance of maintaining bipartisan support for the U.S.-Israel partnership, which greatly benefits both our nations,” Herzog wrote.
Emanuel’s audience at Tel Aviv University was friendly, periodically breaking out in applause. Attendees laughed knowingly when Emanuel said that Israel’s only recent diplomatic gain has been recognition by Somaliland — a country that itself is not recognized by many nations.
“As my grandmother used to say, ‘You lost Europe, you lost America, and you picked up Somaliland — such a deal,” Emanuel said, taking on the inflection of a comedian.
Emanuel became animated when asked by reporters about the charge by some detractors that he is a longtime supporter of Israel who is becoming a critic only when it is politically advantageous to do so.
He cited his criticism of Israel’s expansion of West Bank settlements in 2009, when he was President Barack Obama’s chief of staff, saying that prompted Netanyahu to call him a “self-loathing Jew.”
“If anything, I’ve been consistent … telling the prime minister to his face this was a huge mistake,” Emanuel said. “Maybe you’re the one that’s late to this game,” he added, referring to Democratic critics.
In his speech, which was sent to the media before the event, Emanuel reiterated that the U.S. “should end at long last the American taxpayer’s subsidy of Israel’s defense budget.” He warned that “this alliance is at a tipping point. … We will not continue to give you political, economic, strategic, military capital of ours when you undermine our own security, our own interests.”
Emanuel said Israel cannot continue to occupy Gaza, and he asked the Israeli audience what kind of country they wanted to see when Israel celebrates its centennial in 22 years.
“If you think over the next 22 years you’re going to occupy 70 percent of the Gaza and use your resource, political capital, economic capital for that occupation … it’s not sustainable, and it’s not a long-term plan,” he said. “It’s actually the avoidance of it.”
Emanuel also took aim at Netanyahu’s recent comment that Israel could be a “super Sparta,” militant and self-reliant. And he criticized the prime minister’s support for President Donald Trump’s move to abandon Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran.
“President Trump’s decision to shred that agreement licensed Prime Minister Netanyahu to do what he’s always desired — embrace a military-only approach,” Emanuel said. “And look at what’s happened: You’ve lost ground. You’re less safe today, not more.”
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