Presumed ’28 candidate Rahm Emanuel: Netanyahu leading Jews ‘back into the ghetto’

Rahm Emanuel, who is a presumed 2028 Democratic presidential candidate, argues that Israel currently has “the best strategic terrain” for regional integration since its founding, but that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “pissing it away” and instead “leading Jews back into the ghetto.”

“Israel has never been more strategically secure since Ben Gurion was dancing the hora in 1948 in Tel Aviv, but more politically vulnerable,” argues Emanuel — who previously served as former US president Barack Obama’s chief of staff and mayor of Chicago — in an interview on the left-wing Pod Saves America podcast.

Rahm Emanuel’s candid take on Benjamin Netanyahu's failed leadership of Israel. pic.twitter.com/jObHMYwUYN

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“Never in my life [did I think] the prime minister of the State of Israel would lead Jews back into the ghetto, and that’s what’s happening in Israel, and that’s what’s happening in the world,” claims Emanuel. “Jews can’t go to Europe and participate in Eurovision, while the UAE is hosting the world financially and in the F1 [Formula One racing].”

Eurovision organizers actually announced several weeks ago that Israel could continue to participate in the international song contest, although the decision caused a number of countries to back out in protest.

“He has literally — in the way he has executed pieces of the last — not just the last two years, but over his time — isolated Jews in Israel,” Emanuel continues.

“This is the best strategic terrain Israel’s had since the founding. You have peace in Jordan with Israel; you have peace with Egypt; Syria and Lebanon — basically call it non-belligerence… Iran is on their back foot… You don’t really have in the near geography a strategic threat,” he continues.

“When we were starting in politics, the Gulf was all about just oil. Today, they want to be part of the world economy, which is what Israel’s ace is,” he says. “That is an invitation for Israel, and they’re pissing it away with this prime minister.”