Arutz Sheva:
Last year, Kulanu MK and former Israeli Ambassador to the US Michael Oren received heavy criticism in some circles for his book Ally: My Journey Across the American-Israeli Divide.
With the release of the book’s Hebrew edition, Oren spoke to Arutz Sheva, discussing in depth the tensions between Israel and the Obama administration and the push back he received for the English edition.
The book, which created controversy for what some considered an unfair portrayal of President Barack Obama, elicited rare public condemnations from senior officials, including former US special envoy to the Middle Easy Martin Indyk.
“When I wrote [the English edition], Martin Indyk attacked me,” Oren toldArutz Sheva.
“People got angry at me. I can say that Obama did this because he thought that if these policies were adopted, then the Arabs would come to the table. But the results were the exact opposite – it actually pushed the Arabs further away. That’s because in the Middle East if someone gets concessions without paying a price, then why pay for it afterwards? [After] all of the concessions the Arabs got right from the start from Obama they spit at him in the face.”
“Only now, after interviews with former senior American officials like Dennis Ross, and after interviews with Obama, it’s become clear that what I wrote was correct.”
Oren goes so far as to claim that Obama and his administration intentionally worked to create distance between the historic allies.
“Obama chose to create the crises [between Israel and the US],” said Oren.
“There were differences of opinion with America, as there have been for years. The disagreement regarding Jerusalem has been around since 1948, the disagreement over the settlements since 1967. The thing is he chose to deal with these disagreements publicly. He chose to put diplomatic distance between the US and Israel.”
When asked what lies at the root of the difficult relations between Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and US President Obama, Oren rejected the notion that personal differences between the two leaders were responsible. He argued that Obama’s outlook on world affairs sets him apart not only from Netanyahu, but from the vast majority of Israelis.
“Obama has a worldview that would challenge any government in Israel, rightwing or leftwing. His worldview is so foreign to us. For example his intense reluctance to use military force; or his cooperation with international organizations that are always condemning us, like the Human Rights Council; reaching out his hand to the Muslims and Iran; the demand that we freeze all construction even in Jerusalem – even Meretz couldn’t freeze all the construction in Gilo – but that’s what Obama demanded.”
Speaking of the difficulty in managing the stormy relations between Israel and the Obama administration, Oren remarked “It was very difficult for me – both physically and mentally.”
While he freely admits Israel’s behavior was far from perfect, he notes Netanyahu’s efforts to reach out to Obama.
“I’m not a spokesman for Netanyahu – I’m not even in his party – [but] I can say that he did a lot to try to improve the relationship. He froze construction for 10 months [in Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria], something that no Prime Minister ever did before. At his Bar Ilan address he accepted [the two-state solution]. And he did a lot behind the scenes. But not only did he not get credit for what he did, every concession he made only brought demands for more. The Palestinians, on the other hand, were never asked to give anything.”
Obama didn’t need to do this:
Netanyahu was left to stew in a White House meeting room for over an hour after President Barack Obama abruptly walked out of tense talks to have supper.
Or this:
Obama compared the murder of six million Jews during World War Two to the “occupation” of the Palestinian territories.
(Apology tour, Cairo)
This new book might get criticized for having too different a Hebrew version from an English version, but the writer is of a very different political slant from Netanyahu.
So, he shouldn’t be criticized for being Netanyahu’s mouthpiece.
America had a very positive PUBLIC relationship with Israel up until Obama took office. Netanyahu was on the Israeli/American scene well before Obama came to power.
So, blame Obama, not Netanyahu.