News Media
Foreign Policy�s �The Cable� changed quote about Emanuel
By Wayne Madsen
Online Journal Contributing Writer


May 12, 2009, 00:44

(WMR) -- Foreign Policy�s�The Cable� Internet publication featured a story on May 6 about Israeli President Shimon Peres�s meeting with President Obama at the White House. Foreign Policy is published by Washingtonpost.Newsweek Interactive, LLC.

The publication revealed that present at the White House meeting were National Security Adviser James Jones, Senior Director for the National Security Council�s Middle East bureau Daniel Shapiro, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, and Obama top political advisor David Axelrod.

�The Cable� pointed out that Emanuel and Axelrod had been enlisted to build support within the Jewish-American community for Obama�s two-state solution of Israel and an independent Palestine. The new government of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu opposes the two-state solution.

�The Cable� then quoted Steve Cohen of the Institute for Middle East Peace and Development, founded to facilitate Arab-Israeli peace in 1979 and on whose board sits former Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy Margaret Tutwiler (and close friend of former Secretary of State James Baker) and Frank Wisner, executive vice president of AIG. Cohen is a National Scholar for the New York-based Israel Policy Forum, a Jewish group that supports American involvement in the Middle East peace process.

The Cable stated, �The presence of Emanuel and Axelrod in the room told the Israelis something important, Israel watchers suggested. �This is a significant decision,� said Steve Cohen, president of the Institute for Middle East Peace and Development, which conducts track-two diplomacy between Israel and the Arab world. �The Israelis have tried to intimidate Rahm to say, in effect, �Don�t forget you are a Jew born in Israel.��

On May 7, �The Cable� altered the story and the quote to read: �This is a significant decision,� said Steve Cohen, president of the Institute for Middle East Peace and Development, which conducts track-two diplomacy between Israel and the Arab world. �The Israelis have tried to intimidate Rahm to say, in effect, �Don�t forget you are a Jew [whose parents were born in] Israel.��

Emanuel�s entry in the not-always-reliable Wikipedia states: �Emanuel was born in Chicago, Illinois, to Jewish parents.�

There is clearly much confusion about Emanuel�s biography. Before President Obama�s address to the Congress in February, NBC�s Brian Williams referred to Emanuel as being a veteran of the Israeli Defense Force. Williams was forced to later apologize to Emanuel on the air and stated that Emanuel was a volunteer with the Israeli Defense Force. Williams, in a mea culpa, said that Emanuel�s Wikipedia entry needed to be updated. However, the Wikipedia entry clearly states: �Emanuel did not serve in the Israeli army, but was a civilian volunteer assisting the Israel Defense Forces for a short time during the 1991 Gulf War, repairing truck brakes in one of Israel�s northern bases . . .�

Either Messrs. Cohen and Williams are just plain sloppy with their facts or someone is trying to rewrite Emanuel�s biography. In any event, The Cable altering a legitimate quote, even if Cohen was incorrect, is worthy of the old authors of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia.

WMR previously reported that a senior American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) official revealed that, at one time, Emanuel served as the deputy coordinator of all Mossad activities in North America. 

Previously published in the Wayne Madsen Report.

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