Former Jewish Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel lambasted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Israeli government for perpetuating the starvation of Palestinians in Gaza, accusing them of having responsibility for the ongoing humanitarian crisis.
In an interview Monday morning on CNN’s “The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer,” Emanuel accused Netanyahu of refusing to acknowledge allegations of starvation in the region, telling Blitzer that Netanyahu had failed to devise a “day-after plan.”
“It has nothing to do with Israel’s security. You need to get food into that area, Gaza, to feed the people there and stop enforcing some type of collective punishment on the people of Gaza,” Emanuel said.
“He was warned 18 months ago, you have to have a day-after plan,” Emanuel continued. “The idea that you’re calling Israeli soldiers up on the third or fourth tour of duty to shoot at hungry people trying to get food shows you how bankrupt this entire policy is.”
Emanuel’s comments come as reports of near-daily killings at aid distribution sites in Gaza have attracted widespread scrutiny. On Sunday, Israel announced that it would pause military operations in some parts of Gaza for 10 hours a day to facilitate the distribution of aid to civilians as international calls for humanitarian relief in the region reached a fever pitch.
They also come as Emanuel, whose father is Israeli and who volunteered as a civilian with the Israeli army as a young adult, eyes a potential 2028 presidential bid in a Democratic Party where support for Israel is waning sharply.
Emanuel — the former mayor of Chicago who served as the U.S. ambassador to Japan during the Biden administration — has stoked speculation about a potential bid during recent media appearances.
In the last week, speaking separately with Bari Weiss of The Free Press and on SiriusXM’s “The Megyn Kelly Show,” he has emphasized his support for Israel as a “Jewish democratic state” and also his history of clashes with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“I’m also the only person who has gone toe-to-toe publicly with Bibi Netanyahu,” he told Weiss while excoriating the war in Gaza as Netanyahu has prosecuted it.
“I don’t think young men and women should be called up for their fourth tour of duty in Israel to shoot hungry people,” he said. “That has nothing to do with the security of the state of Israel.”
Later in the CNN interview Monday, Emanuel also invoked Shabbat while condemning Israel’s lack of efficacy at distributing aid in the region.
“On Friday nights, when you do Sabbath and the prayers over the candles, the wine and the challah bread, I have never remembered the prayer for starving children,” said Emanuel. “That Israel is participating in this, perpetuating it — wrong on every level.”
When asked by Blitzer whether he was “blaming Israel for what’s going on in Gaza,” Emanuel replied, “They are responsible.”
“I am putting this at the doorstep of where it belongs, and the idea the prime minister just yesterday says there’s no starvation, people’s eyes do not lie to them,” said Emanuel. “And so I think in this case, from a strategic standpoint, from a moral standpoint, and from a political standpoint, it’s fully bankrupt.”
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