Michael Oren

Public Diplomat
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jewish Daily Forward
by Gal Beckerman - August 19, 2010 - 12:00am

A week after Israel’s fatal raid on a Gaza-bound flotilla, which left nine dead, Michael Oren, Israel’s ambassador to the United States, appeared on Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report.” It was not an easy assignment. Stephen Colbert plays a satirical version of a right-wing television host who regularly and mercilessly mocks his guests. In introducing Oren, he had already feigned sympathy for the raid by saying that it was tragic, but “you can’t make a challah without breaking a few eggs.”

Israeli Ambassador Oren denies statement of 'rift' with U.S., despite reports
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Washington Post
by Glenn Kessler - June 28, 2010 - 12:00am

Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren denied Sunday that he had told Israeli diplomats a "tectonic rift" was emerging between the United States and Israel -- incendiary words first reported in the Israeli press and then repeated in media outlets around the globe.

Israel envoy hosts J Street chief in bid to end rift
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Natasha Mozgovaya - April 16, 2010 - 12:00am

J Street founder and executive director Jeremy Ben-Ami met Israel's U.S. Ambassador Michael Oren for the first time on Wednesday as as Israel sought to heal a high-profile rift with the Jewish lobby group. Oren invited Ben-Ami the Israeli embassy in Washington for talks that lasted around an hour and covered topics including the peace process, U.S.-Israel relations and Iran. Wednesday's meeting builds on months of discussions between the pro-Israel, pro-peace lobby and the embassy to clarify Israel's understanding of J Street's views.

U.S.-Israel crisis: This time, it's serious
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Jewish Telegraphic Agency (JTA)
by Ron Kampeas - March 15, 2010 - 12:00am

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- Last summer, when the relationship between the Obama and Netanyahu administrations was getting off to what appeared to be a rocky start, Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren was at pains -- twice -- to deny that he had been "summoned" to the State Department for a dressing down. One such "meeting" was actually a friendly phone call, he said, and the other was a routine getting-to-know-you meeting. The distinction was key, he told journalists: When the State Department actually "summons" an envoy, "That's serious."

MIDEAST: U.S.-Israeli Tensions Escalating Quickly
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Inter Press Service (IPS)
by Jim Lobe - (Interview) March 15, 2010 - 12:00am

The crisis touched off by last week's announcement of Israel's plans to build 1,600 new homes for Jews in Arab East Jerusalem during a high-profile visit by U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden appears to be escalating rapidly. Michael Oren, Israel's ambassador to Washington and a historian who has written widely on ties between the two nations, called the growing contretemps "the worst (bilateral) crisis in 35 years" in a teleconference with other U.S.-based Israeli diplomats Saturday night, according to a number of published accounts.

Israel envoy: U.S. ties at their lowest ebb in 35 years
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Haaretz
by Barak Ravid - March 15, 2010 - 12:00am

Israel's ambassador to the United States, Michael Oren, has told the country's diplomats there that U.S.-Israeli relations face their worst crisis in 35 years, despite attempts by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office to project a sense of "business as usual." Oren was speaking to the Israeli consuls general in a conference call on Saturday night.

Clinton sounds upbeat on Israeli-Palestinian talks
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from Reuters
by Arshad Mohammed, Andrew Quinn - February 25, 2010 - 1:00am

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said on Wednesday she hoped Israeli-Palestinian peace talks would resume "shortly," sounding more upbeat than usual for a U.S. official. Separately, Israel's ambassador to the United States told Reuters if negotiations resumed after being frozen for more than a year they would start as indirect "proximity talks," with U.S. envoy George Mitchell shuttling between the sides.

Unfairly throwing the book at the 'Irvine 11'
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Mark Levine - (Opinion) February 22, 2010 - 1:00am

The 11 students who each briefly disrupted Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren's speech last week at UC Irvine have no 1st Amendment protection for their actions and deserve to be punished, writes my colleague, law school Dean Erwin Chemerinsky, in his Feb. 17 Times Op-Ed article. Reading Chemerinsky's piece, you'd think a group of hysterically angry Muslim men prevented Oren from speaking at all. But the situation, as a look at a video recording of the event makes clear, was much more complicated.

UC Irvine's free speech debate
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Los Angeles Times
by Erwin Chemerinsky - (Opinion) February 18, 2010 - 1:00am

College campuses, especially at public universities, are places where all ideas should be expressed and debated. No speech ever should be stopped or punished because of the viewpoint expressed. Of course, there must be rules to regulate the time, place and manner of such expression to preserve order and even to make sure that speech can occur.

Counsel-General attends J Street event
ATFP World Press Roundup Article from The Jerusalem Post
by Herb Keinon - February 11, 2010 - 1:00am

Three months after Ambassador to the US Michael Oren pointedly turned down an invitation to attend J Street’s first annual convention in Washington, Israel’s consul-general attended one of the group’s functions last week in Boston. The Jerusalem Post has learned that the consul-general, Nadav Tamir, went to the event only after seeking, and getting, a green light from the Foreign Ministry. The Post learned that Tamir was told by the ministry that he could attend the event, but not be one of its speakers.

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