Updated on: July 7, 2026 / 1:17 PM EDT
/ CBS/AP
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Rahm Emanuel, a potential Democratic presidential candidate and longtime defender of Israel, will denounce Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Tel Aviv this week and deliver a bracing message that the country's relationship with the United States is "at a crossroads.""It cannot stand or survive as it has been," Emanuel will say at Tel Aviv University on Wednesday, according to remarks obtained by The Associated Press. "To maintain the strength of our ties, we need significant changes and a new direction."In an interview with the AP ahead of his speech, Emanuel said Israel's continued military response to Hamas' attack on Oct. 7, 2023, has been "reckless and careless in the treatment of Palestinian life — not only the military campaign but using food and medicine as an instrument of your military goals."Asked whether Israel had committed genocide, an accusation leveled by some human rights organizations and rejected by the Israeli and U.S. governments, Emanuel said the question should not be considered in isolation without also examining conflicts in Ukraine and Sudan."I'm ready to have that discussion," he said, "but I don't think it should be politicized, and then dilute the power of what genocide means."Taken together, the interview and upcoming speech from a stalwart of Democrats' centrist wing are another demonstration of how far the party has shifted away from its historic support of Israel almost three years after the war in Gaza began.About 58% of Democrats say the U.S. is "too supportive" of the Israelis, according to a new survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, up from 45% in January 2024. Roughly half of Democrats believe that Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians during the war with Hamas.
