Endeavor CEO Ari Emanuel called for a two-state solution to the Israeli Palestinian conflict and declared that Benjamin Netanyahu’s rule must end in order to achieve lasting peace for Israel.
Emanuel’s remarks came Wednesday night as he was honored by the Simon Wiesenthal Center with its humanitarian Award at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. The divisiveness of the Israel-Hamas war that began Oct. 7 after Hamas’ coordinated terrorist attacks was evident as a few dozen attendees booed and angrily left the ceremony as Emanuel spoke. “Stop talking!” one woman yelled as she left the ballroom.
But Emanuel was unwavering in his message to the room full of prominent entertainment industry leaders and major figures in philanthropy and civic organizations. Emanuel tore into Netanyahu as a narcissist who greatly compromised Israel’s security with his aggressive policies. He also criticized Netanyahu for having no plan in place for managing the Gaza region after the Hamas war is over.
“It’s a painful and crucial moment for all of us who are Jews, for all of us who love Israel,” Emanuel said. The situation calls for “a political, two-state solution that delivers peace, security and dignity to all.”
On Netanyahu, Emanuel asserted: “Israel is being led by a man who doesn’t want a peaceful solution. He only wants to secure his own power and political survival…He is an agent of chaos, hatred division and destruction — and enough is enough.”
Emanuel acknowledged the tragedy of civilian casualties and suffering among Palestinians in Gaza. But he squarely put the blame for the war on Hamas and the coordinated terror attacks it unleashed on Oct. 7, leaving more than 1,200 dead and more than 250 hostages kidnapped. At present, 125 hostages are still unaccounted for, according to a May 17 report by the BBC.
“The world is rightly outraged by the deaths of innocent Palestinians in this war,” he said.
“There is no contradiction in saying that Israel is justified in fighting to free the hostages and destroy Hamas [and] that we should mourn the deaths of Palestinian civilians and seek to minimize casualties, that we should bring to justice settlers who commit violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, and to call for new leadership in Israel that will eliminate Hamas but also find a political solution for the region.”
Emanuel detailed his famous family’s long-standing connections to Israel, which stretch back before statehood in 1948. His uncle Emanuel Auerbach was shot and killed in 1933 during a protest in Jerusalem. The family changed their surname to Emanuel to honor his memory. In 1967, as a youth, he recalled “sitting with my family in front of the TV watching the first early morning reports when the Six-Day War started, praying that Israel would survive.” His family visited Israel that year and went regularly in summers for six years.
Emanuel acknowledged the polarizing effect of the cultural conversation around the Israel-Hamas war in the U.S. and the proliferation of pro-Palestinian encampments on college campuses.
“Where is the outrage about the civilians being killed right now in Sudan, where earlier this month Human Rights Watch warned that an actual genocide could be unfolding? In Ukraine? Where were the campus protests when the Syrian dictator slaughtered his own people? According to the UN Human Rights Office, over 300,00 civilians have been killed there. Where were the protests when the United States attacked ISIS in Mosul in Iraq and thousands of civilians died?”
Moreover, Emanuel asserted, Israel has no choice but to fight an adversary such as Hamas that explicitly stated that its ultimate goal is to destroy Jewish state.
“Hamas could end this war today. They could free the hostages today. We don’t know how many exactly remain in captivity or alive because Hamas refuses to even release the details,” Emanuel said. “Of course, they will not do that. Hamas started this war, and they continue to wage it, and so Israel must fight it.”
Emanuel was brutal in his assessment of Netanyahu’s motivations for taking such a hard stance on any form of compromise on Gaza and other Palestinian issues. He accused the Israeli leader of trying to cling to power to avoid legal problems that await him once he’s no longer in power.
“For two decades, he has divided Jews in Israel and around the world to stay in power as long as possible. That has been his only goal all along. As for his responsibilities to keep the people of the state of Israel and Jews across the globe safe, he has obviously failed spectacularly. But he has succeeded wildly in using division to stay in…
Read More: Ari Emanuel Calls for Ouster of Netanyahu at Wiesenthal Dinner