BARACK Obama’s selection of devout Jew Rahm Emanuel as his White House chief of staff has heartened many in the pro-Israel lobby
BARACK Obama’s selection of devout Jew Rahm Emanuel as his White House chief of staff has heartened many in the pro-Israel lobby in the US while prompting criticism from an Arab world hoping Senator Obama had sympathy for the Palestinians.
Mr Emanuel, who served in the Israeli forces and whose father worked for the Israeli underground before the nation’s founding, will be one of president-elect Obama’s closest advisers.
“It’s just another indication that despite the attempts to imply Mr Obama would somehow appoint the wrong person or listen to the wrong people when it comes to the US-Israel relationship … that was never true,” said the executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Council, Ira Forman.
He said Mr Emanuel had been an effective leader and “his voting record and leadership in support of the US-Israel relationship are outstanding”.
Mr Emanuel’s deep Jewish roots come with his own personal commitment to the Jewish state, which he served as a civilian volunteer on an Israeli military base during the first Gulf War in 1991. His father Benjamin told an Israeli newspaper: “Of course he will influence the president to be pro-Israeli.”