Rahm Emanuel Credits Trump For Israel-Hamas Deal: ‘Some of My Party Won’t’
Rahm Emanuel, the former mayor of Chicago and top aide to former President Barack Obama, joined C-SPAN’s new show Ceasefire on Friday for a sit-down discussion alongside former Vice President Mike Pence.
The conversation eventually turned to the ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war brokered by President Donald Trump.
“I have no problem saying it. President Trump deserves credit here. Some of my party won’t say that. He does. I also think it accrues to America’s benefit, and that is the United States is the essential power around the world. We shouldn’t back off from that responsibility. And we just proved this in spades—something that neither Russia, China, nor any other country could have done what we just did. And that’s good for the United States,” Emanuel said, adding:
And that means power doesn’t stay in the region. It extends and goes into other regions of how important. I also want to call out: neither Bibi Netanyahu nor the leadership of Hamas would have done this if it wasn’t also pressure from the Israeli public or the Palestinians in Gaza Strip. They deserve a call-out for their own pressure, never giving up, going down to the vigils for the hostages, never giving in, the sense of pressuring.
Today, in an election, Hamas couldn’t win, and they know that. And so to me, this is an example of, yes, President Trump and his administration—I have no problem saying that—but one thing I do know about the Middle East, and it’s not a “but” part: This is the first chapter of what comes next, not the last chapter of what just closed. Where this goes, will the president’s administration stay not only engaged, but shape this to something better?
And the second thing is, and we have an agreement on another issue, Ukraine, will the President take the lessons of how he applied pressure on Bibi Netanyahu to apply pressure on Putin, who is in a very vulnerable, weak position across the globe and in the region and in this war, which is a huge mistake and he knows it. Will he take this lesson and do what he has never done in his career, apply pressure to Putin?
“It’s pretty remarkable that we are launching a show called Ceasefire on a week when there is a ceasefire in the Middle East. You both have been part of negotiations that are high-stakes like this. You have experience in the executive branch and in Middle East politics. Can you give us some behind-the-scenes insight as to how something like this comes together and how do you make it last?” asked host Dasha Burns.
“Well, I think it takes—and I’m grateful for Rahm speaking plainly about giving President Trump credit here. Look, I think the President’s consistent support for Israel doing what it had to do after the horrors of October 7th two years ago—I mean, Dasha and I traveled a few months after October 7th to communities that were struck,” Pence replied, adding:
There were literally still bullet holes in the walls and blood on the carpets in Kfar Aza. I went to the field where the young people had been brutalized and cut down and murdered. And the ability to stay with Israel as they did what needed to be done and the president’s relentless pursuit for peace here and that of his team, I think, is to be commended.
Watch the clip above via C-SPAN.
