From MiddleEast.Org - Exclusive:
White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel Acknowledges He Served in the Israeli Army

On February 24th at 9pm President  Obama gave his first address to a Joint Session of Congress.   Just before he began NBC Anchorman Brian Williams mentioned that right after the address White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel would be his exclusive guest to discuss the speech.  In commenting about Emanuel, Williams mentioned that he had served in the Israeli Army.    When Obama had concluded, and while Emanuel was getting ready to be interviewed, Williams interjected that he had been wrong, that Emanuel had been a 'Civilian Volunteer' in the Israeli Army during the first Gulf War.  Clearly someone had thought this important enough that even during the President's address word got to Williams that he had to return to this matter and use the 'Civilian Volunteer' lingo before interviewing Emanuel.. 

Now the official Rahm story -- corrected on Wikipedia and propagated by many of Obama's friends and associates including another prominent American Jew who went to live in Israel, Jeffrey Goldberg at The Atlantic --  is that such an up- and-coming politico, soon to be a major player in the Clinton White House, and it is thought a former Israeli citizen until coming of military age, spent a few weeks "rust-proofing" things at some remote military base.  This has always seemed a little  ittle is dubious at best.   Mossad connections have been alleged; and indeed past patterns of Mossad conduct do fit such scenarios, however impossible it is to actually prove such things.  Now with Rahm Emanuel Chief of Staff to the President, arguably the day-to-day most powerful person in the Executive Branch of Government after President Obama, such matters should no longer be overlooked or sweep under the political/historical rug.

BUT, back during the campaign in June of last year, in fact on the very day Rahm finally endorsed Obama rather than Clinton, in fact on the day Obama spoke to the Israeli/Jewish Lobby AIPAC, in fact on the day Emanuel introduced Obama at AIPAC and then went with him for an off-the-record meeting with the Board of Directors, another NBC journalist said on air that Emanuel had served in the Israeli Army.  This time Rahm was right there, listening to every word, and not only did he not deny it but he can actually be seen nodding his head 'yes'.    Furthermore the journalist involved was not just an ordinary journalist, but none other than NBC's Chief Foreign Affairs correspondent, Andrea Mitchell, herself very well-connected in Washington, very Jewish and Zionist, and married to none other than Alan Greenspan.  Watch it below and judge for yourself.      As you do think about these facts and questions:
"Life-Long Commitment to Israel"    Definite
"Served in Israeli Army"   ?
Former Israeli Dual Citizen   ?   Probably Yes
Religious Zionist Jew with long-acknowledged allegiance to Israel.   Duel-Loyalties?    Definite
Father a far right-wing Israeli, a "terrorist" in his day who participated in the assassination of the first U.N. Negotiator   Oh My!
Suspected past Mossad connections  ?
Israeli record and involvements white-washed   ?
Closer and more involved with AIPAC than any other White House official in history.   Yes


Further insights:  The Washington Jewish community has many talented and very senior people in the media, in finance, and in government.  In nearly all cases membership in this society requires very strong Israeli connections and allegiances.   Many of these prominent Jews know each other well, their families socialize together, they are inter-married.  Of course Andrea Mitchell being married to Alan Greenspan is the best known example.  Another Andrea, Andrea Koppel, is married to Ken Pollack -- formerly of the CIA, now with one of the Israeli Lobby think-tanks, and one of the prime instigator of the Iraq War who is now along with his comrades pushing hard for war with Iran.  And oh yes, that just happens to make Ken Ted Koppel's son-in-law; not to mention the Henry Kissinger connection to Ted and so many others.   Here is what Andrea Mitchell said a few years ago when interviewed by JEWISH WOMAN Magazine relevant to her Jewish feelings and Israeli
connections:

Question:  Has Judaism ever been an issue, positive or negative, in the course of your career?
Andrea Mitchell:  It's certainly not been a negative issue. I think when I was watching the signing of the Camp David Accords in 1979, after the Camp David Summit in 1978, I certainly felt a tremendous emotional connection to the issue and to the chances of a breakthrough between the Israelis and the Arabs. Seeing Sadat and Begin was a very emotional experience. Similarly, in 1993 I was one of many people on the South Lawn who were very excited about prospects for peace, when we finally saw Rabin and Arafat shake hands under the guidance of Bill Clinton. Perhaps it made me more eager to go the West Bank and interview people and learn more about the Palestinian perspective. So I think it's less a religious issue than a cultural connection to the Middle East. One other experience that was important was the controversy over President Reagan's visit to the cemetery in Bitburg where S.S. soldiers were buried. I remember when Elie Weisel came to appeal to the president not to go. That was a very powerful experience for me. I spent a lot of time covering that issue, then we ended up going and visiting Bergen-Belsen with the president. Certainly all of my childhood experiences and my parents' stories about the Holocaust are part of my personal and intellectual history. Our family was not Holocaust survivors, but it was a very important part of the way we were raised. My mother and father talked about it all the time.