In a sharp rebuke from one of the most powerful people in the American entertainment industry, Ari Emanuel, CEO of the Endeavor agency, called on Wednesday for the removal of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from office.
Speaking at the gala of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, Emanuel charged, “Netanyahu doesn’t want a peaceful solution, and it’s become clear that getting to a political solution and Netanyahu remaining in power are irreconcilable paths.”
“Jews are not a selfish people,” he continued. “We’re a charitable people, but Bibi Netanyahu is fundamentally selfish. The cost of giving this man what he wants has become far too great for far too many people.
“Netanyahu has tarnished a legacy that does not belong to him,” he said, a comment that received a round of applause. “For the good of Israel, he should go, so should the extremists in his cabinet, who are inciting violence in the West Bank and are trying to undermine democracy in Israel.”
“There is no contradiction in saying Israel is justified in fighting to free the hostages and destroy Hamas, that we should mourn the deaths of Palestinian civilians and to minimize casualties, that we should bring to justice the settlers who commit violence against Palestinians in the West Bank,” he added, receiving more applause. “And to call for new leadership in Israel that will eliminate Hamas, but also find a political solution in the region.”
Emanuel’s criticism of Netanyahu and of Israel’s conduct in the war was said to draw condemnation from people at the event, and some attendees reportedly walked out of his speech.
“Israel will never truly be secure with Bibi Netanyahu in charge,” he said, receiving a few boos from the audience. “It is up to the Israeli people to choose their own leader, Israel is a democracy, but as Jews, we have a stake in this… As Elie Wiesel once said: ‘Sometimes you must interfere.'”
“Today as always, Israel needs a wise and just leader. The time has come to move on from Bibi Netanyahu.”
Speaking in honor of receiving the Center’s humanitarian award, Emanuel is considered one of the most powerful talent agents in the world.
Hailing from a prominent Jewish family, Emanuel’s father, Benjamin, was a member of the paramilitary organization Etzel prior to the founding of Israel, and his brother, Rahm, was mayor of Chicago and chief of staff under former United States president Barack Obama.
The war in Gaza erupted after Hamas’s October 7 massacre, which saw some 3,000 terrorists burst across the border into Israel by land, air and sea, killing some 1,200 people and seizing 252 hostages, mostly civilians, many amid acts of brutality and sexual assault.
The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 35,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead so far in the ensuing Israeli offensive, though only some 24,000 fatalities have been identified at hospitals. The tolls, which cannot be verified, include some 15,000 terror operatives Israel says it has killed in battle. Israel also says it killed some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.
Netanyahu has been criticized both for his strategic decisions prior to October 7, particularly his policy to allow funds from Qatar into Gaza that strengthened Hamas, and his conduct during the war, as the premier has not presented a post-war plan for Gaza that his political partners or the international community find acceptable.