Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Politics

Biden ambassador: Blindly supporting Israel is not friendship

‘I have no problem saying that with my middle name being Israel,’ U.S. Ambassador to Japan Rahm Emanuel told CNN

Rahm Emanuel, the U.S. ambassador to Japan, on Sunday defended President Joe Biden’s handling of the Israel-Hamas war, countering Republican criticism that the administration’s opposition to some tactics and policies of Israel’s right-wing government indicates insufficient support for the country.

“When the president of the United States says to Israel the truth, that’s being a friend,” Emanuel said in an interview with CNN host Fareed Zakaria. “And just doing something blindly is not a friend.” 

Emanuel, who is Jewish, criticized former President Donald Trump’s repeated remarks on the campaign trail, accusing Jews of dual loyalty, a longstanding antisemitic trope, saying that Jews supporting Democrats “should have their head examined,” and predicting Israel’s demise should Vice President Kamala Harris win the election. Earlier this month, Trump also recorded a video message to Americans living in Israel, saying of Democrats, “The other side doesn’t even like you.”

“First of all, that’s nuts,” Emanuel said about the Republican nominee’s comments about American Jews. 

Emanuel, who was appointed by President Biden as ambassador in 2021 and worked in both the Clinton and Obama administrations, said the Biden administration’s approach to the war in Gaza — providing defensive support to Israel while urging caution regarding the military’s operational conduct — is consistent with Jewish values. It is also the vision of Israel’s founding fathers, who sought “to be accepted as a nation among nations,” he said. 

“And that means you have to be honest when Israel is wrong,” Emanuel said. “And I have no problem saying that with my middle name being ‘Israel.’”

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:

  • Credit the Forward
  • Retain our pixel
  • Preserve our canonical link in Google search
  • Add a noindex tag in Google search

See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at editorial@forward.com, subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.