The big news out of Barack Obama’s appearance before a pro-Israel lobby group today was not his predictably strong defense of Israel, but the surprise emissary who accompanied him to make personal introductions to its board.
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The go-between with the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee was Rep. Rahm Emanuel, a fellow Chicagoan and a onetime civilian volunteer to the Israeli army and son of a Jerusalem-born pediatrician.
Until today, Emanuel, a superdelegate, had remained uncommitted in the Democratic presidential contest because he is close with the Clintons after serving six years in Bill Clinton’s White House. “I’m hiding under the desk,” he had said as the only Democrat in Illinois’ congressional delegation who had not endorsed Obama.
But if Emanuel didn’t step into the breach until after Obama became the presumptive Democratic nominee, his advocacy with AIPAC leaders today likely helped mollify concerns among some members that Obama may be too sympathetic to the Palestinian cause or too soft on Iran. Later, his office released a statement saying that he also endorsed Obama.
Emanuel, the fourth-ranking Democrat in the House, is the son of Benjamin Emanuel, who worked with a Zionist paramilitary organization in Israel in the 1940s. The elder Emanuel emigrated to Chicago where he met his wife, Martha Smulevitz, an American Jew who worked as an X-ray technician.
Before his family moved to the lakeshore suburb of Wilmette, Rahm Emanuel attended Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School, a Jewish high school endowed by billionaire Sam Zell. Inheriting his father’s passion for Israel, Rahm Emanuel worked as a civilian volunteer in Israel in the 1991 Gulf War, rust-proofing brakes on an army base in northern Israel.
Beyond Emanuel’s private introduction to AIPAC’s executive board, Obama sounded all the important themes in his public remarks. He vowed to stop Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and insisted Jerusalem will remain the undivided capital of the Jewish state.
“Let me be clear. Israel’s security is sacrosanct. It is non-negotiable,” he said. “The Palestinians need a state that is contiguous and cohesive, and that allows them to prosper . . . But any agreement with the Palestinian people must preserve Israel’s identity as a Jewish state, with secure, recognized and defensible borders.”
Obama got several standing ovations, including sustained applause after observing, “We must not allow the relationship between Jews and African Americans to suffer. This is a bond that must be strengthened. Together, we can rededicate ourselves to end prejudice and combat hatred in all of its forms.”
Whether Emanuel will now act as a go-between in the tougher negotiations between Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton remains to be seen.