Aipac Forum, Day 2: Rahm Emanuel Touches a Third Rail
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
By Nathan Guttman May 4, 2009
Aipac’s big show of the morning was, of course, Israeli president Shimon Peres. The president found himself praising his long rival Benjamin Netanyahu, and vouching for Bibi’s intention to promote peace between Israelis and Palestinian.
But some of the more interesting comments were heard behind closed doors, in the sessions that organizers decided to close to the press. Such was one of the main dinner events Sunday night that featured White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel and former Israeli foreign minister, now leader of the opposition, Tzipi Livni.
Emanuel went straight to what used to be considered the third rail in U.S.–Israel relations: He linked the peace process with the Iranian nuclear threat. According to press reports, Emanuel said that effective American efforts to deal with Iran hinge on Israel moving forward with the Palestinians.
At the same event, Tzipi Livni gave Aipac activists a different perspective on Israeli policy and, contrary to Netanyahu’s approach, said there is an immediate need to take on Israeli–Palestinian peacemaking.
It’s our birthday and we’re still celebrating!
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news.
This week we celebrate 129 years of the Forward. We’re proud of our origins as a Yiddish print publication serving Jewish immigrants. And we’re just as proud of what we’ve become today: A trusted source of Jewish news and opinion, available digitally to anyone in the world without paywalls or subscriptions.
We’ve helped five generations of American Jews make sense of the news and the world around them — and we aren’t slowing down any time soon.
As a nonprofit newsroom, reader donations make it possible for us to do this work. Support independent, agenda-free Jewish journalism and our board will match your gift in honor of our birthday!
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
