By Shawn Zeller, CQ Staff

True, his father was from a Muslim family. And American Muslims voted overwhelmingly for Barack Obama — 9-to-1, according to one survey — at least partly because they hope he will help solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

But Obama’s subsequent appointment of Rahm Emanuel , a child of an Israeli doctor, as his chief of staff has caused concern among Muslim and Arab-American groups.

MOVING FAST: Obama’s new chief of staff quickly apologized for his father’s comment about Arabs. (CQ / SCOTT J. FERRELL)

In an e-mail last week, James Zogby, the president of the Arab American Institute and a longtime Democratic operative, described the appointment as turning “the euphoria of some” to “despair.” Zogby has been defending Emanuel and says the complaints mostly stem from unfounded reports, first raised when he was campaigning for his Chicago congressional seat in 2002, that Emanuel was an Israeli citizen who had served in the Israeli army and lost a finger confronting a Syrian tank during the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon.

In reality, Emanuel was born a dual citizen but surrendered his Israeli passport at age 18. He did work, for 10 days, as a volunteer mechanic for the Israeli army after the first Persian Gulf War started in 1991.

However, it didn’t help matters when his father, Benjamin Emanuel, told an interviewer that his son would be a champion for Israel in the White House. His son, he said, would have influence and “won’t be mopping the floors” like an Arab.

Emanuel quickly apologized to Mary Rose Oakar, a former Democratic House member from Cleveland who heads the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. She said Emanuel told her it was “unacceptable” for his father to cast aspersions on “any ethnic or religious group.” For his part, Zogby tried to tamp down his community’s concern, arguing that “Obama has tapped Emanuel for his proven political skills.”

A spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, Ibrahim Hooper, says Muslim Americans were glad to hear of Emanuel’s apology but want to wait and see the Obama administration’s approach to their community. American Muslims bought into Obama’s change message, Hooper says, but their enthusiasm was tempered when Obama pursued the support of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a prominent pro-Israel lobbying group.

“It’s clear,” Hooper says, that Emanuel has “a strongly pro-Israel leaning.” But American Muslims “hope he will be balanced in terms of providing access to the White House to people with different views on the Middle East conflict.”