According to the Israeli Ha'aretz paper, Benjamin Emanuel 'is a Jerusalem-born pediatrician who was a member of the Irgun (Etzel or IZL), a terrorist Zionist group that operated in Palestine between 1931 and 1948.'

He was a gun runner for the Irgun, the Zionist, pre-Israel Zionist, militia that carried out numerous terrorist attacks on Palestinian civilians, including the bombing of the King David Hotel.

Rahm Israel Emanuel, who is named after a Zionist combatant, also served for the Israeli military during the 1991 Gulf War.

Rahm Emanuel himself, President-elect Barack Obama's White House chief-of-staff, was not responsible for those activities, but his record is far to the right of President Bush when it comes to supporting Israel.

His remarks angered the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, which called on Rahm Emanuel to condemn them.
On Thursday, his office issued a statement saying that he had called the group's president, Mary Rose Oakar.

It said that he had "apologised on behalf of his family and offered to meet with representatives of the Arab-American community at an appropriate time in the future".