JTA — Democrats can win the White House in 2028 without cutting off Israel, but only if the “status quo” rules of the alliance between the two countries change, veteran politician Rahm Emanuel said at Tel Aviv University Wednesday.

Emanuel made the comments in response to a question from the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. He stressed that the “status quo” in which “you can’t say anything negative and there is an implicit endorsement” of Israel is unacceptable.

Emanuel, most recently the US ambassador to Japan, is considering a presidential run in 2028. He is a former US congressman from Illinois as well as a former Chicago Mayor who served as White House Chief of Staff under president Barack Obama.

His trip has garnered media attention given that his ideas on Israel could signal the direction of his party on the issue, particularly as they come from a Jewish politician with close ties to the country. Emanuel once volunteered as a civilian with the Israeli army and his father was an Israeli citizen.

At a time when support for the Jewish state is increasingly unpopular at the ballot box, Emanuel delivered a public address highlighting his deep ties to the country and disavowing pro-Palestinian protestors who have called for Israel’s destruction.

He took issue in particular with those among the anti-Israel protesters who supported the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack on southern Israel in which 1,200 people were killed and another 251 taken captive.

“For those that paraded, celebrated and cheered on October 8, what happened on October 7, your moral bankruptcy speaks louder than any words today,” he said in his speech. The line hadn’t appeared in his prepared remarks, which the JTA obtained on Tuesday.

“Those chanting ‘from the river to the sea’ need to hear this loud and clear: they will never have their way,” said Emanuel, who equally condemned Israelis and Jews who are pursuing a vision of Greater Israel, in which a Jewish state rather than a Palestinian state would fill the entire stretch of land.

“Both are fantasies chanted by fanatics,” he said.

Emanuel said he came as a friend to warn Israel that its alliance with the United States is at a “tipping point” due to the policies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has led the country to a “dead-end” that has turned the Jewish state into a “pariah” nation.

“Israel has failed to convert its military wins into strategic advantages,” Emanuel said in the speech, noting that the country has “lost Europe” and........

© The Times of Israel