If Rahm Emanuel's appointment as Barack Obama's chief-of-staff was bad news, the news about Emanuel's father is even worse.

According to English-language reports in The Jerusalem Post and The Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Benjamin Emanuel discussed the potential impact of his son's new position on US-Israeli relations.

"Obviously, he'll influence the president to be pro-Israel. Why wouldn't he? What is he, an Arab? He's not going to be mopping floors at the White House," the elder Mr Emanuel told the Israeli daily Ma'ariv.

Writer Jane Hamsher reported: "Representative of Rahm Emanuel, president-elect Obama's chief of staff, called the president of an Arab-American group today to apologise for comments his father made to an Israeli newspaper."

Observing the activity stimulated by the Emanuels, Professor Jack Shaheen (a leading authority on the portrayal of Arabs and Islam in American media) notes that he has been reading comments on liberal blogs, such as: "Why should Rahm be held responsible for comments he didn't make? Shouldn't Rahm's father be the one apologising? Those were his words, not Rahm's."

Having thoroughly studied decades of brainwashing of the American public with Hollywood's negative portrayals of Arabs in both film and TV, Professor Shaheen saw immediately just how racist the elder Emanuel's comment was.

He noted how vigorously the Press would react if the target was NOT Arabs:

"Irrespective of the colour, faith or ethnicity of the parent, if he/she had made a similar comment about Blacks, Jews, Asians, Latinos, Catholics, Irish, Italians, or whomever, would not the societal outrage have been three-fold?

"Would not an apology be expected from the son, but also from the parent?

"How abhorrent would it sound if the parent had stated: 'What is he, a Black? He's not going to be mopping floors at the White House.'

'What is he, a Jew? He's not going to be mopping floors at the White House.'

'What is he, a Mexican? He's not going to be mopping floors at the White House.'

"You get the point of how unacceptable such a statement would be. Yet, why the tolerance of intolerance when it comes to Arabs? Why do they count -in our media and in our country- for less?"

The answer goes back to the exposure that Professor Shaheen has done of the film and TV industries' vilification of Arabs in his books, including Reel Bad Arabs, The TV Arab and his latest (2008) Guilty: Hollywood's Verdict on Arabs After 9/11.

In his research of nearly 1,000 films from 1896 to the present that included Arab characters or references, Shaheen found that only 12 gave positive depictions, 52 were neutral and some 900 were negative.

Rahm Emanuel's father brought his son up as an Israeli-American. Apparently, Emanuel still has dual citizenship. If he is to devote himself to America as a public servant, he should give up his Israeli ties, particularly since he will be in a position to have great influence on the president.

There should remain some doubt about whether or not Rahm Emanuel, who once served in the Israeli army, can relinquish his ties with Israel.

To be an American supporter of Israel has obviously become entirely acceptable politics in Washington.

One has to go as far as Jonathan Pollard and provide Israel with stolen secrets, before getting into trouble. It's easy to suspect that even Pollard thought he could get away with it, noting the abject devotion of Americans to Israel.

However, returning to the elder Emanuel's comment about his son.

Even if he apologised for his son's sake, we need to realise that he knows his son well.

No doubt, his observation about Rahm's loyalty to Israel was an accurate picture of Emanuel family reality.

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