Rahm Emanuel’s speech has upset many in Israel. We hear familiar complaints that he does not love Israel, has little understanding of Israelis, and is unwilling to listen to their experiences after October 7. But that misses the mark. Emanuel is holding up a mirror, showing Israel how the developed world now sees it. From Israel, his argument sounds unfair and infuriating. That is beside the point. Whether justified or not, it reflects the reality Israel now faces. Much of the developed world is exhausted by the occupation, by talk of annexing the West Bank, settler terrorism, and by Israel’s inability to take any agency in this cycle of violence. Many American Jews are, too.

What makes Emanuel’s speech significant is not that he comes from the left or the right, but that he comes from the center. This is not how the American political center normally speaks to Israel. Emanuel is not a campus radical, not a fringe anti-Zionist, and not Zohran Mamdani or Tucker Carlson. He is a Jewish Zionist fixture of the Democratic establishment with deep ties to Israel. If........

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