Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman decided to appoint Michael Oren as Israeli’s ambassador to the United States, Israel Radio reported Saturday evening.
The report stated that Oren will replace Ambassador Sallai Meridor in the coming weeks.
This is wonderful news. Dr. Michael Oren (Ph.D in Near East Studies) was born in the US and is an excellent, powerful speaker in English. An expert in the Mideast conflict but not an ideologue, he’ll serve as a antidote to the poisonous vapors arising from Obama advisors like Samantha Power.
I heard Ambassador Meridor interviewed on NPR during the Gaza war. They made mincemeat out of him; he came off as apologetic and evasive at the same time. This will never happen to Oren.
I recommend Oren’s book Power, Faith and Fantasy, an account of US relations with the Middle East since American independence, to everyone.
Technorati Tags: Michael Oren, Israel
Why are you even bringing up Samantha Power at this point? That seems remote considering the past reference to her in the article written by Barry Rubin even acknowledges that she was a campaign advisor.
Furthermore, it seems precarious bit of journalism to attempt to make a comparison between an Israeli appointed ambassador and an irrelevant former US campaign advisor.
What is the point of trying to insert a weird parallel? It actually diminishes the bright and good qualities that you are trying to highlight about Oren, because it seems petty. Oren is likely a good candidate absent and notwithstanding any potential jibe to either the current US administration and someone not even relevant to Oren’s appointment.
Weird.
Cool about Oren though. Thanks for the book suggestion, hopefully it highlights some of his policies.
Obama dropped Power as a campaign advisor after she called Hillary Clinton a ‘monster’. However there was also an outcry about a statement she made that US troops should be sent to the West Bank to protect the Palestinians.
After the election, though, Obama turned around and put her on his transition team. And now she is a member of the National Security Council.
Steve Rosen called her the most anti-Israel person in the Obama Administration.
I wonder if she ever apologized to Hillary?
Is any of that relevant to Oren being nominated as Israel’s ambassador to the US?
Otherwise, it just looks like you are trying to comment on female politicians in some sort of weird sideways sort of manner and in totally inapplicable contexts.
Is the article about Oren, or is it an opportunity to drop a comment about someone from a past article and now the Secretary of State for the US?
Too remote and boring from the subject of the article. Cancel my subscription, I am done with your issues.
Seriously, bad blog article, and it is unfortunate because I think the real significance of Oren’s nomination is totally lost on your inane attempts to throw in some fourth-rate attempt at news making/gossip/moralistic mining for nonsense.
Stick to the issues or at the very least, the subject of the blog article.
I am certain that news-makers like Oren and Israeli ambassadorial nominations deserve more integrity.
Really, this sort of content is not really the type that you would see on the cover of Ok! mag, or In Touch, or People, so you should stop pretending you are the Perez Hilton of near-east and US politics because it is tacky.
Not only that, but your comments about those politicians and the reason for Powers’ departure (one source indicates she took time off to get married and supress a conflict of interest) could be and likely are inaccurate in light of information to the contrary. For anyone who cares to research a non-issue embedded in the subject of the article on Oren, they could find out otherwise. Seriously, we all now know more than we need to about someone who has nothing to do with an Israeli nomination and an alleged, isolated, fleeting, in-essential comment about the Secretary of State, who is a public figure and probably did not care in the first instance. But if you want to spend time wondering about it, good for you. I will still ask you what that or your random musings about supposed moral politicizing actually have to do with Oren’s nomination, again . . . and I am certain you have no logical response. So, boring subterfuge is all you have to offer.
But, I suppose having a reliant fan base of readers probably provides you with some sense of confidence about being able to report on the non-essential just to attempt to stir some pot that didn’t matter until you decided to roll with it, which is even more disappointing.
I put the comments in both your blog on Oren and your attempt at response in the comment section above in the same pile as the mis-informed Al Amir comments at the UCIrvine Muslim Student Union gathering on the Jewishness of Rupert Murdoch who is not even a Jew, as if it would matter if he was anyway. Who cares. You are bordering on such comparable innanity.
And, competing with such persons to relate inessential garbage, is really like modifying that PA dump truck with non-Gazan propoganda. So, in a sense, if Powers did say that the US should support the Palestinians in Gaza, you are sort of helping that theory along with your fastidious lambasting, and irresponsible information alignment.
Woah!
Once again FresnoZionism shows good judgment. Oren is a first- rate appointment. He is not a party hack, and a half- illiterate but rather a first- rate scholar and truly informed commentator on Israeli affairs and history. He also has written a study of the American involvement in the Middle East which has a central theme the long- running pro- Zionist thread in American- Middle Eastern history.
I have heard some critical remarks about Oren from those on the Right politically. But my sense of things are these are way off the mark. Oren is just the kind of person Obama likes, articulate, intelligent, and without propaganda and bull.
I did not make the major point I should have i.e. Oren aside from being competent and articulate is a strong realist, and pragmatist in regard to Israeli security issues. He is someone who understands the realities of Israel and the kinds of problems it faces. He is not some simple- minded one – note ideologue who will knee- jerk answer every problem. He is a man who I believe both Prime – Minister Netanyahu and the Americans will be able to work well with. He will forward the interests of Israel.