Rahm Emanuel brought up short

Barack Obama's new chief of staff Rahm Emanuel has had to apologize to Arab Americans for the tasteless remarks of his father Dr. Benjamin Emanuel. In an interview with the Israeli daily Ma'ariv, Emanuel pere who holds an Israeli passport as does his children, proudly extolled the power that his son would have over the 44 president of the US by influencing American support for Israel. Well had he stopped there, it would've sounded no more than the average boast of a proud father and an Israeli citizen that the US is Israel's friend. But the elder Emanuel didn't. He went on to add as chief of staff at the White House, my son won't be 'an arab. He's not going to be mopping floors at the White House'. The American Arab Anti Discrimination Committee immediately pick up on this racial slur [substitute Arab for black in the American context...and what do we have?], shot off a letter to Rahm Emanuel calling on him to repudiate his father's remarks, and noting on the bottom of the letter it had also sent a copy to Mr. Obama. Well, Rahm Emanuel apologized; he did the right thing. His father is an unrepentent Israeli hawk. The main street media has not picked up on the fact that the father as a youth was a member of the Jewish terrorist group, Irgun, which brought us the King David Hotel bombing and the Deir Yassine massacre. It would be in Rahm Emanuel's interest to keep a tight rein on his father, and to remember his first loyalty lies to the US not to Israel, despite the fact that he holds dual citizenship.