One of the most influential politicians and fundraisers in
his party, Emanuel accompanied Obama to a meeting of AIPAC's executive board just after the Illinois senator had addressed the pro-Israel lobby's conference last June.

In Congress, Emanuel has been a consistent and vocal pro-Israel hardliner, sometimes more so than President Bush. In June 2003, for example, he signed a letter criticizing Bush for being insufficiently supportive of Israel. "We were deeply dismayed to hear your criticism of Israel for fighting acts of terror," Emanuel, along with 33 other Democrats wrote to Bush. The letter said that Israel's policy of assassinating Palestinian political leaders "was clearly justified as an application of
Israel's right to self-defense."

In July 2006, Emanuel was one of several members who called for the cancellation of a speech to Congress by visiting Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki because al-Maliki had criticized Israel's bombing of Lebanon. Emanuel called the Lebanese and Palestinian governments "totalitarian entities with militias and terrorists acting as democracies" in a 19 July 2006 speech supporting a House resolution backing Israel's bombing of both countries that caused thousands of civilian victims.

Emanuel has sometimes posed as a defender of Palestinian lives, though never from the constant Israeli violence that is responsible for the vast majority of deaths and injuries. On 14 June 2007 he wrote to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice "on behalf of students in the Gaza Strip whose future is threatened by the ongoing fighting there" which he blamed on "the violence and militancy of their elders."

(source: electronicintifada.net/v2/article9939.shtml).

That should be a satisfactory reference for Emanuel's credentials as a card carrying member of the international Zionist conspiracy. It is not enough to satisfy some, as a scandalous report has been circulating with the crucially damning evidence that Rahm's brother Ari is an associate of Michael Moore. No doubt it will also be discovered that his third cousin twice removed had dinner with Cindy Sheehan in 1995, and that a relative in Israel got a draft deferment from the IDF. Oh yes, I forgot to mention that Emanuel volunteered for the IDF during the Gulf War.

Barack Obama gave one other sign of which way the wind is going to blow, for what it is worth. During a press conference on Friday, he spoke mostly of domestic matters and the economy as might be expected, but when asked a question about Iran, he said:

"Iran's development of a nuclear weapon, I believe, is unacceptable and we have to mount an international effort to prevent that from happening,"

He also said Iran's support of terrorist organizations was "something that has to cease." These remarks were greeted with consternation in Iran, as we might expect. What a bummer for all the Ahmadinejad groupies!

These are favorable omens. Of course, those who have the best interests of Israel and the United States at heart should always be ready to provide constructive and credible policy input. They should also be prompt protest policies that they consider to be unfair or unwise, but that criticism should be based on evidence, not frivolous gossip about Ari Emanuel's (brother of Rahm) clients.

The stream of anti-Obama invective is not based on any real evidence, and it is not about defending Israel or Zionism or Jews. It is a continuation of partisan election propaganda that is aimed at trying to falsely identifying Zionism with Republicanism and conservative extremism. That, as I shall discuss in my next blog, seems to me to be a big mistake.

Ami Isseroff