Emanuel's father, Benjamin Emanuel, was a member of the Irgun, the Zionist terrorist organization that preceded the IOF. Albert Einstein, in a letter to The New York Times in 1948, compared Irgun to "Nazi and Fascist parties" and described it as a "terrorist, right wing, chauvinist organization". Ari Emanuel is a staunch Zionist who only criticized Netanyahu because he believes his leadership has created "a vulneralbity that is unprecedented" for the Zionist entity.