Rahm Emanuel Calls for Ending U.S. Defense Subsidies to Israel and for Arab League Role in 23-State Plan

Rahm Emanuel on Wednesday called for ending U.S. subsidies to Israel's defense budget and for sanctions on Israelis who attack Palestinian civilians and property. Speaking at Tel Aviv University, Emanuel said Israel must find a new path to peace and security rather than fighting indefinitely against global opinion.

He proposed that Israel pay for American arms on the same terms as other allies and advocated sanctions on Israeli politicians who support violence against Palestinian civilians. Emanuel also called for strengthening diplomatic ties with Arab states and economic links through the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor.

He advocated a 23-state solution involving Israel, the Palestinians, and the 21 members of the Arab League, saying the Arab nations need to establish a governing authority that accepts the historic Jewish connection to the land.

Emanuel described the two-state solution as discredited. He stated that America turning a blind eye to Israeli injustices had engendered the worst of Israel's domestic politics and that support for Israel is plummeting, with Europe lost and Israeli scientists, artists, and academics facing exclusion from international networks. Emanuel arrived in Israel on July 5.

He visited a hospital partnership between Tel Aviv and Nablus where Israeli and Palestinian doctors train together, visited Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, and met with President Isaac Herzog. He told The Associated Press he is avoiding meetings with political leaders ahead of Israel's fall elections. An AP-NORC survey found 58 percent of Democrats say the U.S.

Is too supportive of Israel, up from 45 percent in January 2024. Roughly half of Democrats believe Israel has committed genocide against Palestinians during the war in Gaza that began three years earlier.