In strikingly racist remarks, the father of Rahm Emanuel has said Israel will benefit from Obama's choice of White House chief of staff."Obviously he will influence the president to be pro-Israel. Why wouldn't he be? What is he, an Arab? He's not going to clean the floors of the White House," Benjamin Emanuel, father of Rahm Emanuel, told the Israeli Ma'ariv daily.
In a Thursday statement, US president-elect Barack Obama announced that Rahm Emanuel had accepted his offer to serve as the next White House chief of staff, the highest-ranking member of the Executive Office of the President of the United States.
News of Benjamin Emanuel's comments came as Israeli newspapers rejoiced over Obama's choice of the Illinois Congressman to become 'the second-most powerful man in Washington'.
According to the Israeli Ha'aretz paper, Benjamin Emanuel 'is a Jerusalem-born pediatrician who was a member of the Irgun (Etzel or IZL), a militant Zionist group that operated in Palestine between 1931 and 1948.'
Rahm Emanuel, who is named after a Zionist combatant, also served for the Israeli military during the 1991 Persian Gulf War.
The appointment of Emanuel has not been welcomed in the Muslim world, where many feel that rather than reflecting Obama's campaign cry of 'Change', the move demonstrates the president-elect will continue to play the same old Washington foreign policy tune.
"There could not be a more provocative appointment than Rahm Emanuel, if he wanted to send a signal that he is going to stick by a quite hard-line pro-Israel policy," Ali Abunimah of the Electronic Intifadah said on Democracy Now.
“[Emanuel's father] was a gun runner for the Irgun, the Zionist, pre-Israel Zionist, militia that carried out numerous terrorist attacks on Palestinian civilians, including the bombing of the King David Hotel," said Abunimah.
He added that although Rahm Israel Emanuel himself was not responsible for those activities, his record is “far to the right of President [George] Bush when it comes to supporting Israel.”
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