Rahm Emanuel to tell Israel its alliance with the U.S. cannot ‘survive as it has been’

Rahm Emanuel, the former Chicago mayor and potential Democratic presidential candidate, plans to use a speech in Tel Aviv on Wednesday to warn that America’s relationship with Israel is “not sustainable” unless the Israeli government sharply changes course.

Emanuel, according to draft remarks provided to the Washington Post, plans to offer criticism of all parties involved in the decades-long conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbors — warning that Israel has become a “pariah” under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, calling out “the corruption of the Palestinian leadership” and challenging the “unconditional support” the United States has offered Israel.

Emanuel, who is Jewish and whose father was born in Jerusalem, plans to tell the Israeli audience that the relationship between the United States and Israel is “at a crossroads” and cannot “stand or survive as it has been,” given the country’s harsh treatment of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

“The United States cannot continue to finance and support that cynicism in silence,” Emanuel plans to tell the audience at Tel Aviv University. “You cannot fight indefinitely against a world that has stopped believing you have the right to fight. You must instead find a new sustainable path to peace, security, and economic prosperity.”

The debate over Israel and Palestinian territories is causing enormous upheaval in the Democratic Party, where negative views of Israel have shot up since its lethal invasion of Gaza following the Hamas attacks of Oct. 7, 2023.

Democratic lawmakers in New York and Colorado suffered primary defeats recently against political newcomers critical of their past backing of Israel, while Democrats weighing 2028 presidential runs are already facing tough questions on the Middle East. Party leaders have yet to find a way to navigate between those who still fundamentally support Israel, most of whom nonetheless criticize the Netanyahu government, and those who want to end all economic and military cooperation.

Emanuel may be in a particularly sensitive spot because his connections to Israel are notable. His uncle is buried in Jerusalem, and he served as a civilian volunteer for the Israeli military during the 1991 Gulf War. He also worked on Arab-Israeli peace as a top aide to presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama.

Emanuel said in an interview that he opted to “come and be frank” by speaking in Israel, rather than “shooting spitballs from across the Atlantic.” In a possible shot at other Democrats considering presidential runs, he added, “I don’t think it takes a lot of courage to criticize Israel from the opinion pages of any publication or from the floor of the Senate.”

In his prepared remarks, the former congressman says the push for a “Greater Israel,” one that includes Gaza and the West Bank, is as “self-destructive and fanatical” as the demands for a Palestine stretching “from the river to the sea.”

Emanuel also plans to outline a three-part proposal: full diplomatic relations between Israel and its Arab neighbors, who will be responsible for standing up a credible Palestinian authority; economic investment to deepen connections between Israel and its Arab neighbors; and an end to the “American taxpayer’s subsidy of Israel’s defense budget.”

But the tone of his speech could be as important as the content. “Hear me now: Israel will be alone if its leaders choose to attempt to annex the West Bank and pursue the fantasy of a Greater Israel,” he plans to say. “America will not and cannot be complicit or complacent in that endeavor.”

In the interview, Emanuel said his central message is that the status quo cannot continue.

“I happen to think the alliance, if done right, serves American interests. But if it doesn’t, I’m going to say, ‘This is going to change,’” Emanuel said. “And if it doesn’t change, it can’t stay as is. This is not sustainable for the United States.”

Netanyahu comes in for particular criticism. “The prime minister and his government have led Israel into a dead end,” Emanuel plans to say.

Emanuel and Netanyahu have a tangled history. While working as Obama’s chief of staff, Emanuel challenged the prime minister on new housing in the West Bank, leading to headlines in Israel that Netanyahu called Emanuel and Obama adviser David Axelrod “self-hating Jews.”

Emanuel now wields that insult like a badge of honor, given Netanyahu’s low standing among Democrats. “I didn’t need a war to know that what he was going to do was going to lead to perpetual war. That’s what I said to him in 2009,” Emanuel said in the interview. “If there was a prediction I wanted to be wrong on, that was it.”

Still, the speech reads like a statement of tough love from a friend, one that finds the former mayor leaning on his connections to the nation to deliver blunt criticism. Emanuel plans to open by noting his uncle’s grave site on Jerusalem’s Mount of Olives and his father’s service in the Irgun, a Jewish underground militia, during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

“The most important thing a true friend can do is to tell the truth even when it’s painful,” he plans to say. “And today is a day for truth.”

Emanuel, unlike many critics of Israel, contends in his speech that Israel over the years has repeatedly offered the Palestinians sovereignty in exchange for security, only to be rebuffed.

Emanuel said his trip to Israel is part of a broader strategy to mount a nontraditional presidential campaign, should he “decide to take the dive into the deep end.”

“I’m not going to do a campaign the traditional way,” Emanuel said, adding that if he chooses to run, he will not make any announcement until after the 2026 midterms.

The dramatic shift in Democrats’ position on Israel began in the Biden administration. President Joe Biden, a traditional pro-Israel Democrat, flew to Israel to show support in October 2023 after Hamas militants surged over the Gaza border and killed some 1,200 people.

As Israel mounted an aggressive retaliatory military campaign that ultimately killed more than 70,000 Palestinians, Biden was increasingly besieged by progressive protesters at his events hurling chants of “Genocide Joe.”

Even with the 2028 election more than two years away, potential Democratic hopefuls are already facing questions about their stance toward Israel.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom in March referred to Israel as “sort of an apartheid state,” a remark he later walked back under pressure. Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker was sharply critical of AIPAC, the influential pro-Israel group, after it spent lavishly on political campaigns in his state.

Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, asked in a Politico interview in March whether Israel was guilty of genocide in Gaza, responded, “That’s becoming one of those new litmus tests that we said we would never do as a party again.”

He added that he supports Israel and its right to exist but disapproves of Netanyahu’s handling of the Gaza war.