Rahm Emanuel is heading to Tel Aviv this week with a speech that will do what few prominent Democrats have done in public and in Israel: denounce Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by name and argue that the relationship between Israel and the United States cannot go on as it has. Emanuel is scheduled to speak at Tel Aviv University on Wednesday, and he plans to say the alliance needs significant changes and a new direction.
That message lands now because the politics around Israel in Washington have shifted fast. A new -NORC survey found that 58% of Democrats say the United States is too supportive of the Israelis, up from 45% in January 2024, and roughly half now believe Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians during the war with Hamas. Emanuel, a longtime defender of Israel and a figure from the Democratic center, is stepping into that break with a speech that mirrors how far his party has moved.
He is expected to argue that Israel's response to Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack has been reckless and careless in its treatment of Palestinian life, including the use of food and medicine as an instrument of military goals. He also wants sanctions on Israelis who attack Palestinian civilians and property, sanctions on companies and banks that support settlements considered illegal by most of the international community, and an end to U.S. subsidies to Israel's defense budget. Emanuel says Israel should still be able to buy American arms, but under the same financial terms, restrictions and requirements as every other trusted ally that follows U.S. law.
The shift is sharper because Emanuel has spent years defending Israel while now preparing to rebuke the government in public. He said the question of genocide should not be considered in isolation from conflicts in Ukraine and Sudan, adding that he is ready to have that discussion but does not want it politicized. That places him in direct conflict with a leader who once called him a self-hating Jew, and with a prime minister who has spent years fighting critics at home and abroad.
Emanuel's broader charge is that years of unconditional backing from Washington have left Israeli policy stuck in place and given Netanyahu the sense that there would be no cost for ignoring American concerns. Netanyahu faces his own battle for reelection in October, and Emanuel's remarks in Tel Aviv on Wednesday may become one more marker of how far the ground has shifted before that vote. The unanswered question is not whether Emanuel will speak plainly. It is how Netanyahu will answer when the rebuke comes from inside the room.
