The pursuit of Greater Israel is a corrosive fantasy, veteran Democratic politician Rahm Emanuel is expected to tell a Tel Aviv audience on Wednesday, calling it as \u201cdestructive and fanatical\u201d as the chant \u201cfrom the river to the sea.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emanuel, who has held multiple top roles in the Democratic Party, in Congress and in the Obama White House, is a potential 2028 presidential candidate.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He will warn that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is leading the country to a \u201cdead-end\u201d that has turned the country into a \u201cpariah\u201d and is threatening Israel\u2019s historic alliance with the United States, according to an advance copy of his speech shared with the Jewish Telegraphic Agency on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
He blamed as \u201cour mistake\u201d America\u2019s assumption that \u201cthe best thing Washington could do for Jerusalem was to blindly and silently stand behind your government, without conditions, without demands, and without consequences.\u201d That path has led to policies including Israeli extremists terrorizing West Bank Palestinians and Gazans suffering from a lack of food that means \u201cIsrael has never been so isolated,\u201d a situation that he terms \u201ca countdown clock\u201d for Israel\u2019s security.<\/p>\n
Instead, his remarks state, \u201cwe need a fundamentally new and di\ufb00erent approach to the alliance.\u201d<\/p>\n
At the same time, he criticized the Palestinians for what he said were mistakes and obstacles to\u00a0 peace over the years. He lambasted their supporters in the United States who support replacing Israel with a Palestinian state stretching from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose chanting \u2018from the river to the sea\u2019 need to hear this loud and clear: they will never have their way,\u201d he declares in his prepared remarks. \u201cBut those calling for a greater Israel must also hear this loud and clear: you\u2019re never going to have your way, either. Both are fantasies chanted by fanatics.\u201d<\/p>\n
Emanuel, who is a former U.S. congressman from Illinois as well as a former Chicago Mayor and served as White House Chief of Staff under President Barack Obama, is considering a presidential run in 2028. 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.<\/p>\n
His trip to Israel to underscore the importance of the Israeli-U.S. alliance and to advocate for a new regional diplomatic initiative comes at a time when politicians in his Democratic Party are increasingly disavowing Israel to gain an edge in upcoming elections as the country\u2019s reputation plummets.<\/p>\n