Rahm Emanuel: Democrats who support Israel can still lead the party to the White HouseJerusalem Post, Jul 9, 2026
Democrats can win the White House in 2028 without cutting off Israel, but only if the “status quo” rules of the alliance between the two countries change, veteran politician Rahm Emanuel said at Tel Aviv University Wednesday.
Emanuel made the comments in response to a question from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. He stressed that the “status quo” in which “you can’t say anything negative and there is an implicit endorsement” of Israel is unacceptable.
His trip has garnered media attention given that his ideas on Israel could signal the direction of his party on the issue, particularly as they come from a Jewish politician with close ties to the country. Emanuel once volunteered as a civilian with the Israeli army and his father was an Israeli citizen.
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Emanuel said he came as a friend to warn Israel that its alliance with the United States is at a “tipping point” due to the policies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has led the country to a “dead-end” that has turned the Jewish state into a “pariah” nation.
“Israel has failed to convert its military wins into strategic advantages,” Emanuel said in the speech, noting that the country has “lost Europe” and its support in the US is plummeting.
Pushing back at concerns regarding growing opposition to Israel within his Democratic Party, he said Israel had an American problem, not a partisan one.
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Still, Israel’s future can’t be “held hostage to a past defined exclusively by recriminations,” he said, as he urged Israel to embark on a path that pairs military and diplomatic efforts, rather than relying solely on military prowess.
"Israel will be alone if its leaders choose to attempt to annex the West Bank,” Emanuel said.
“America will not and cannot be complicit or complacent in that endeavor,” he wrote, explaining that it has erred in the past by “blindly and silently” supporting Netanyahu’s government.
He blamed as “our mistake” America’s assumption that “the best thing Washington could do for Jerusalem was to blindly and silently stand behind your government, without conditions, without demands, and without consequences.” That path has led to policies, including Israeli extremists terrorizing West Bank Palestinians and Gazans suffering from a lack of food, that means “Israel has never been so isolated,” a situation that he called “a countdown clock” for the country’s security.
He called for an end to the “American taxpayer’s subsidy of Israel’s defense budget,” maintaining that Israel should buy US arms with the same financial terms and restrictions as every other ally “that abides by our laws.”
Emanuel also laid out a broad-based two-state solution, though he did not spell out prescriptions for divisive issues such as the future of Jerusalem or using the pre-1967 lines for determining the borders of a Palestinian state.
More:
https://www.jpost.com/american-politics/article-901947
