Rahm Emanuel, the U.S. Ambassador to Japan and one of the most influential American diplomats globally, has become a strong advocate for Israel since the October 7 attacks.
Emanuel, the son of a former Irgun fighter, has long had deep ties to Israel, though his relationship with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has often been marked by tension dating back to his tenure as President Barack Obama’s chief of staff.
Since the Hamas attacks, Emanuel has stood firmly with Israel, leading key diplomatic efforts, including organizing a G7 meeting with the families of hostages and addressing large pro-Israel rallies in Tokyo. He also hosted children from southern Israel affected by the war on a visit to Japan’s Fukushima region, where they learned about community rebuilding after disaster. Emanuel has actively raised awareness about Hamas’ sexual violence crimes and pushed for an emergency UN Security Council meeting during Japan’s presidency, which resulted in a groundbreaking discussion.
Among those Emanuel has closely connected with is Yacov Argamani, father of freed hostage Noa Argamani, who recently visited him in Tokyo. During their meeting, Noa shared her experiences from captivity. Emanuel, deeply moved, told her, "Your voice is important—don’t lose it," and later tweeted, "Noa’s powerful message of hope, resilience, and peace transcends borders."
“I met with five or six families, organized by the Israeli embassy,” Emanuel told Ynet in an interview. “I felt a connection to all of them in one way or another, as just out of human nature, you want to comfort people. There was something about [Yacov Argamni’s] soul, his gentleness. There is the worst thing a father could ever face and the way he described her. There was something to him and his desire to see his daughter returned to her mother given her illness. That struck me.
“He could have had a different set of emotions. He maintained a moral clarity, both as a father who wanted the return of his daughter and a father who wanted the return of peace and healing in Israel. I thought was a beautiful spirit.
"When she came home, I called them and she was there and we had a conversation. I said, ‘When you're ever up to it, please come and I'll take you for a sushi restaurant for dinner.’ Unfortunately, they moved it earlier, so we met at my residence and had breakfast together.”
From Gaza to Fukushima
As U.S. ambassador to Japan, Emanuel made headlines when he announced his decision to boycott the annual Nagasaki atomic bomb memorial after the city’s mayor chose not to invite Israeli Ambassador Gilad Cohen, citing Israel’s alleged "war crimes."
Emanuel, who is both a close personal friend of Cohen and a staunch supporter of Israel, saw the exclusion as a political move. He argued that it was morally wrong to equate Israel with Russia, which was also not invited to the ceremony.
Emanuel not only skipped the event but also successfully persuaded G7 ambassadors and several other Western diplomats to join the boycott.
Your stance has reinforced Japan’s reputation as a friend of Israel, with many crediting your influence for keeping Japan aligned with Israel during the ongoing war.
“I don't know about that assessment, but I have spoken publicly in Japan that Japan has abductees, people that have been seized on the streets to North Koreans for years, and that the United States never lost faith of returning the abductees to their families. Seizing people on the streets or out of their homes cannot be accepted as a norm by any country or by any player.
In that sense, the second thing is a country has a right to self-defense. I've articulated what I think is in America's interest and interest, not just the United States, but the interests of countries that believe in the rule of law.”
What led you to stand with Israel against the mayor of Nagasaki, who equated it with Russia?
"Now it goes back to the first question on two points. Russia invaded a sovereign country; Israel was invaded. They're not morally equal.
"Two, I talked to the mayor months earlier, and he expressed concern about the security of the event and the Israeli ambassador. I said, ‘You know, we have a phrase in America, ‘that dog won't hunt.’ I said, ‘You can't tell me it's a safety issue if the prime minister and the foreign minister are attending.’ You're not going to have a safety issue and permit the prime minister to attend, but the only person you have a concern for safety is the Israeli ambassador. That just doesn't add up.
"As somebody who used to be the mayor of the city of Chicago, somebody that dealt with presidential security, that just doesn't work. And I said, ‘look, this is politics and I'm telling you, as a former mayor, you can express your desire for a cease-fire, you can express your desire for the return of the hostages to their families and maybe have your own political view on the war that you want to express, but Israel should not be morally equal to what Russia has done, because one is defense and one is offense.
"This is purely political and if I attend, I'll be recognizing your political decision, which I disagree with. So I will not attend and I didn't. It's not just me other members of both the G6 and other nations, both in the EU and outside the EU, skipped this year's ceremony. Obviously, the United States is a more prominent country, given both the history of Nagasaki, but also who we are, but I decided that Israel would not stand alone.
"And I say this jokingly with some self-deprecation. I'm a former ballet dancer. I'm flexible; I'm not that politically flexible. I led our embassy with a moment of silence at the appropriate hour, and then I attended a temple here in Tokyo that was having a ceremony.
“I said to them, and I will repeat, I have a different view of winning. I know there are many who believe you should crush Hamas, and I'm not saying there isn't a level of need for deterrence to be reestablished after October 7 and to have the price paid given what Hamas has done.
“But my view of victory, and I said that to the children, ‘Victory is going back and building your communities. Go back and reestablish your kibbutzim, your family life, your dreams, your hopes, your college. That is what Hamas is trying to crush. The victory is your home. The victory is your community. The restoration of the Jewish life.
"My father was of a generation that came to create Israel. In the face of conflict, if you read history correctly, do not define victory solely by what happens with how many Hamas terrorists you eliminate. The one thing that they try to do is break the will of the Jewish people to create a Jewish homeland. So you must go back to your home and build the homeland. That is victory.
Inspired The West Wing
Emanuel's connections to Israel run deep, extending beyond his father's involvement in the Irgun. Emanuel's surname was chosen in honor of his uncle Emanuel Auerbach, who was killed in a clash with Arabs in Jerusalem in 1932. His first name, Rahm (short for Rahamim), was given in memory of a Lehi fighter who was killed.
During the Gulf War, Emanuel volunteered at an IDF base in northern Israel for two weeks. His older brother, Ezekiel "Zeke" Emanuel, is a medical professor at the University of Pennsylvania, while his younger brother, Ari, is a prominent Hollywood talent agent, famously inspiring the character Ari Gold on the TV series Entourage.
What can you tell me about your personal connection to Israel? When did it begin?
"I remember this distinctly. These were the pre-1967 days. We were living in an apartment on Winona, on the north side of Chicago. I woke up in the middle of the night and my dad was sitting in front of the TV on the floor. The time must have been 3 or 4 in the morning. The early news coming out on the Six-Day War.
"It was a day or two after the Six-Day War concluded and Mom and the three boys went to Israel and landed in the old Ben Gurion Airport, the one opposite the new one, and we stayed for the summer of ‘67. We came and we dropped our bags at our aunt’s house and Mom got us in a car and we drove. We hadn't slept. We drove and walked to the Old City and then Mom took us to Yad Vashem. I don't think we were awake for the whole thing. We put the bags in the car and we drove to Jerusalem and Mom wanted us to go to the Wailing Wall. Then we returned in the summer of 68, for the summer of 69, for the summer of 70, for the summer of 71, for the summer of 72 and so on. In the formative years of my childhood, we went to Israel every summer."
Emanuel has had a long and varied political career, including a notable leap into municipal politics as the two-term mayor of Chicago. Before that, he was a key figure in Democratic administrations over the past three decades. During the Clinton administration, Emanuel was involved in planning the Oslo Accords signing ceremony in the White House Rose Garden, down to the famous handshake between Rabin and Arafat. His rise in politics inspired the television character Josh Lyman on The West Wing and Eli Gold on The Good Wife.
Emanuel began his tenure as U.S. ambassador to Japan in early 2022 and is considered one of the most influential American diplomats globally. He played a crucial role in strengthening U.S. security ties in the Pacific, including cooperation between the U.S., Japan and South Korea.
Behind the scenes, Emanuel has also been a strong ally to Israel, receiving commendations from Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Foreign Minister Israel Katz for his assistance in sensitive matters. His efforts included personally reaching out to Boeing’s CEO to help Israeli airline El Al secure aircraft for its Tokyo route.
“Rahm is a true friend of Israel, whose love for the country stems not just from shared interests and values but from the heart,” said Israel’s ambassador to Japan, Gilad Cohen. The two ambassadors have shared photos of themselves climbing Mount Fuji, hoisting the flags of Israel, the U.S. and Japan.
“Israel should be very, very proud of his selfless service for the State of Israel,” says Emanuel. “And not only him; his family. He has two boys in reserve duty in Gaza and here he is overseas serving. He has a daughter also who is a recent recruit and she's working, getting trained in a unit. And so the whole family serves the country. I think they represent the best spirit of the State of Israel.
“Now, obviously he represents Israel. I represent the United States. There will be places where we don't agree. But that said, Ambassador Cohen, who I refer to as Gilad, is both a diplomatic colleague and a personal friend. He has opened his home for Shabbat dinners for myself and my wife. He has me over on the Jewish holidays, when I have a friend in town.
“I took Gilad once to a ballet performance and his wife and his daughter were teasing him that it took him going to Tokyo and then having a friendship with the former dancer to finally get him to go to a dance. More on a personal joke level, but they said they tried for years to get them to go see dance in Israel. Never went. You have a fabulous dance company in the Batsheva Dance Company. The choreographer there is a genius.”
Do you expect to be part of the next administration? Perhaps in a senior cabinet role, like secretary of state?
“I have served three presidents. I'm honored by all three. I've also held two elected positions - representing the people of the north side of the city, Chicago, in Congress and then mayor of the city, all of that is an honor. I enjoy public service. There's many different ways to do it and we'll see.”
Do you consider yourself a Zionist?
“Let me see. My name is Rahm Israel Emanuel. I was born on November 29, the same day Israel was declared by the United Nations. November 29, 1947. All three of my children, Zachariah, Ilana and Leah, have Jewish-identified names. So do I believe in the State of Israel? Yeah, it doesn't mean I agree with everything the government does, but I do believe in the State of Israel. I believe in a democratic state that believes in the greatest values of the Jewish tradition and views about humanity.”
Is what happened on October 7 and its aftermath part of a broader conflict between the free world and the axis of evil?
"Yes and no. Look, I want to be careful here because I'm the U.S. ambassador. Hamas has violated five cease-fires that have been worked out between the State of Israel and Hamas since 2006. So this so to say that this one is part of an axis of evil. I think Hamas does not believe in the State of Israel and believes in its destruction.
"I think sometimes people stretch categories like the axis of evil or the axis of resistance and try to fit things into it. I think the painting of that is so broad that it misses the nuance of this because I think October 7 is part of a continuity of cease-fire violations, not an aberration from past violations.
“Now hopefully we can get a cease-fire because I think one of the changes here that Israel has to appreciate is not only the United States, but there are regional players that are now vested in a cease-fire that has never existed before for Israel and that it's not isolated, it's not solely dependent on the United States, not solely dependent on itself. There are regional parties that want the same stability and security that Israel is seeking, and that is new, and that's an asset to be strategically deployed."
During your time as Obama's chief of staff, there were many tensions with Prime Minister Netanyahu. What can you share about that today?
“That's a book. You know the famous anecdote quote where Clinton says, ‘I don't think he understands who the superpower is in this relationship’? he says, referring to the 42nd American president’s remarks after his first meeting with Netanyahu in 1996. “I have a lot to say, but I will not say it under this title, this position.”