Current sectionIsrael NewsRahm Emanuel made sure to address the audience in Tel Aviv University directly. 'I understand your cynicism,' he said, but added that it was time for the United States to treat Israel like its other alliesShare to FacebookShare to XArticle printing is available to subscribers onlyPrint in a simple, ad-free formatSubscribeComments: Zen reading is available to subscribers onlyAd-free and in a comfortable reading formatSubscribe11:08 PM • July 08 2026 IDTSpeaking to a crowd of some 250 Israelis on Wednesday, possible Democratic presidential hopeful Rahm Emanuel urged them to change their government's course, presenting a new paradigm for how moderate Democrats relate to the Israel and its far-right government.The former Chicago mayor and White House chief of staff under President Barack Obama also said that he "hasn't decided" whether he will be running for president in 2028, and defended the 2015 Iran nuclear deal from which the United States pulled out under President Donald Trump in 2018.Through the event, which was hosted by Tel Aviv University's Center for the Study of the United States, Emanuel addressed his audience directly. "I want to start by saying four words that Israelis don't hear often anymore: I understand your cynicism. I understand why, even if you oppose the Netanyahu government, you're so prone to dismiss criticism from the outside world," he said.Emanuel, who also served under President Joe Biden as U.S. ambassador to Japan, reassured his audience that his relation to the country and its conflicts was more than theoretical. He recounted that his Jerusalem-born father fought in the War of Independence and that his uncle, whose grave he visited upon arrival, died fighting for Israel as part of the Irgun. After presenting those bona fides – and acknowledging that the last Israeli-Palestinian peace process ended with the carnage of the intifada and other Palestinian rebuffs of peace offerings – he delivered to the crowd some tough love.The United States' unconditional support for Israel "has produced a prime minister who has presumed that his strategic interests would incur no cost if he ignored America's concerns about the settlements and sparked a regional war. Unconditional support has allowed you to deny food and medical relief to innocent Palestinians suffering in Gaza, leaving the world to conclude that Israelis not only want to kill the Palestinians but that they are completely indifferent to their death, destruction, and suffering," he said to the nodding crowd of students, professors and members of the University's community. "Unconditional support has girded a political coalition in the Knesset that learned it can burn Palestinian farmland in the West Bank and terrorize Palestinian families without consequence."Under Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, he emphasized, support for Israel has taken a nosedive around the world and made the country an international pariah. "The only diplomatic gain you've made over the last three years is Somaliland," he said, to wry laughter from the audience.Emanuel reiterated an idea he has shared in other venues: that the United States should stop supplying military aid to Israel and instead treat it like any other ally. "The United States cannot continue to finance and support that cynicism in silence. 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 prosperity."He championed a plan, the "23-state solution," in which the Arab states establish a governing authority that can accept the Jewish historical claim to Israel, and, in turn, that Israel "cease and desist from its cynical game of nurturing destructive organizations like Hamas rather than real partners in pursuit of peace." He warned that if Israel attempts to annex the West Bank and "pursue the fantasy of a greater Israel," it will lose its American support.In the NewsRahm Emanuel's Tough Love Wins Warm Welcome in Tel AvivWho Is Yonatan Hun and What Did He Do With Yair Netanyahu?Germany Says It Can't Accept West Bank Annexation, but Does Nothing to Stop ItIsrael Gov't Wrongly Cites Academia Leaders' Letter to Curb Protests on CampusNGO: Israel 'Fails to Address Serious Concerns' for Detained Gaza Doctor's LifeRemembering and rebuilding two years laterICYMIIsrael Has Long Ignored Warnings of a 'Diplomatic Tsunami.' Now It Has ArrivedDumber Than a 10-year-old: Are Israeli Students Really That Stupid?An Israeli Principal Desegregated a Tel Aviv School. Here's What HappenedAs Israel Lacks Hundreds of Patrol Officers, West Bank Staff DoublesThe 'Special Relationship' Is Gone, and Israel Isn't Ready for What's ComingRep. Dan Goldman Says Support for Israel Cost Him New York Democratic Primary