Ambassador Dan Shapiro asked Netanyahu to issue a statement disassociating himself from Oren’s remarks, Israeli sources said, to which the prime minister responded that he had no intention of publicly addressing the issue.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected an American request to publicly disassociate himself from claims made by former Israeli Ambassador to Washington and current Kulanu MK Michael Oren accusing President Barack Obama of deliberately abandoning Israel, in an op-ed published several days ago in the Wall Street Journal.
Oren was appointed by Netanyahu in 2009 as Israel’s ambassador to Washington and served in that position until 2013. His piece in the Wall Street Journal, entitled “How Obama Abandoned Israel,” is part of a promotional campaign for his just-published memoir about his years as ambassador. In the article, Oren asserted that Obama abandoned the two main principles in Israel-U.S. relations – avoiding public disagreements (“no daylight”) and “no surprises” in terms of major policy changes.
On Tuesday, a few hours after Oren’s article was published, U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro phoned Netanyahu. An Israeli source familiar with their conversation says that Shapiro asked Netanyahu to issue a public statement disavowing Oren’s accusations that Obama deliberately abandoned Israel from the time he entered the White House in 2008.
The source, who wished to remain anonymous since he was not authorized to reveal details to the press, said that Netanyahu turned down Shapiro’s request and said he had no intention of commenting publicly on what Oren wrote.
Shapiro also made a similar request to Finance Minister Moshe Kahlon, chairman of the Kulanu party of which Oren is a member. Unlike Netanyahu, Kahlon complied with the request. He summoned Oren for a discussion for clarification and subsequently sent a letter to the U.S. Ambassador saying that Oren’s comments against Obama do not represent the stance of Kulanu or its leader.
On Tuesday, Haaretz contacted the Prime Minister’s Office with a series of questions on the subject, including, what Netanyahu’s position was on Oren’s serious accusations against Obama.
The Prime Minister’s Office replied that it had no comment. Ambassador Shapiro declined to comment on the content of his conversation with Netanyahu.
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry vehemently rejected Oren’s assertions in the Wall Street Journal article. State Department Spokesman John Kirby said in his daily briefing to reporters on Wednesday that Kerry read Oren’s article and believes that his claims against Obama “is absolutely inaccurate and false, and doesn’t reflect what actually happened in the past.”
Kirby also said that Kerry thinks that Oren wrote what he did as “a politician trying to promote his book,” adding that, as ambassador, Oren “had limited visibility into many of the private discussions and deliberations that he describes.”
Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, who is also strategic affairs, and public diplomacy minister, also voiced harsh criticism over Oren’s claims.
“Oren’s claims are disconnected from reality,” Erdan said on Thursday. “Oren is wrong to accuse President Obama of malicious intentions toward Israel. The president prevents harsh resolutions against Israeli from being passed at the UN, and actively tries to strengthen the security ties between the states. Saying that the president has abandoned Israel is a disconnected remark.”
I have long hoped that the stark realities of the Jewish state perpetually treated as an international pawn of the this American imperium would be realized by the leadership of Israel. And especially so for the long-time leadership of Binyamin Netanyahu.
It was to my great satisfaction in the months preceding the most recent Knesset election as we all witnessed Mr Netanyahu all but publicly defy Mr Obama by coming to Washington at the invitation of the leaderships of the two houses of the Congress of the United States of America to spell out exactly why the Obama-Kerry diplomacy with Iran would lead to a dangerous and hostile Iranian government armed with nuclear weapons, plus the means to deliver those weapons to targets not only in the Middle East but elsewhere. Faraway elsewhere.
Now he is standing once again on the side of some bitter truths, in the defense of the former Israeli ambassador to the USA, disdaining to lend syupport to the economy tsar whom he apparently felt compelled to appoint for purposes of forming yet another mixed-bag ruling coalition. Mr Netanyahu cannot get rid of Mr Kahlon without breaking up his new government. That that does not mean he has to smile indulgently when his economy tsar spouts bullshit about the true nature of Israel’s relationship to the USA.
In any case, I sincerely hope Mr Netanyahu continues his recognition of the realities of the Jewish nation and the Jewish state, by getting together with Defense Minister Ya’alon, and with his Minister of Assorted This and That, Mr Bennett, and gets serious about fulfilling the vital work of building a large and permanent Jewish population more or less homogeneously across the whole of Area C. Because there is not and never shall be any kind of peace that would justify Jewish abandonment of Shomron and Yehuda — the promised land of the past 2000 and more years.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI
Kudos to Oren! Kudos to Bibi. Kahlon is viewed by me now with full contempt for throwing Oren under the bus and being an ass kissing weak weasel.
Oren’s timely revelations could be proven by a meticulous piecing together of information, which may result in a 3D picture of precisely who is behind the deliberate attempts to undermine the U.S./ISRAEL alliance. Not only the who but the why, the ultimate motive. Who is pulling Obama’s
Strings?
My hunch is there are parties behind the scenes who have yet
to be identified. We know OBAMA has systematically surrounded himself with known notorious ISRAEL bashers, to put it mildly.
The US Congress will not find it difficult to put the pieces together in the run up to the election, for one and The Iran Scandal, for another.
It is time to lean on our congress persons and senators to clarify how we became transformed into a terrorist supporting nation, as a clear policy, to the detriment of our allies, especially ISRAEL, the most vulnerable.
The “Oren Affair” will become a valuable litmus test to
determine where a Jew, Israeli, American, or otherwise is coming from.
American Jews who are not prisoners of the liberal and Reform cabals believe every word of Oren’s, based on public knowledge of Obama’s behavior toward Netanyahu.
Moshe Kahalon has revealed himself to be the kind of Jew who grovels pathetically in front of Obama – he along with Gilad Erdan are not leadership material.
Say what you like Netanyahu, he’s not hanging out his former ambassador to dry.
Has Netanyahu finally tired of appeasing Obama? If true, it is a belated/important/wonderful development. We will see what happens when Obama responds vindictively. Hang tough, Bibi!
This is another time for testing. The leftists and court Jews are lying and denying the truth as always. The anti-Semites are angry because they are being exposed for what they are. All this filth emanates from Obama. I am beyond disappointed that the American Jewish community is failing to support Ambassador Oren.
Well done Mr. Netanyahu.
And Erdan is not proving to have qualities likely to represent our National interests.
We maintain with our loved USA very good relations.
With the perverse State Department of sinister records in history against Israel and with Mr. Barrack Hussein Obama’s administration we must not ever lower our guard. They are inimical to us from their very core.