Historian Michael Oren - Israel's ambassador to Washington,

In many respects, Oren is a perfect choice. He is personable, moderate and articulate, though he has no dipomative experience. He will represent Netanyahu's view ably and he is savvy enough not to turn off reasonable liberals.

 

Historian Michael Oren to be Israel's ambassador to Washington, reports say
Tue, 04/21/2009 - 6:08pm
http://thecable.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/04/21/historian_michael_oren_to_be_israels_ambassador_to_washington_reports_say

 

Michael Oren, a senior fellow and scholar of Middle Eastern diplomatic and military history at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem, is Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu's choice to be his ambassador to Washington, sources in Israel and Washington say.

 

(Richard Silverstein and Politico's Ben Smith earlier reported this.)

 

Oren, a New Jersey native who emigrated to Israel in the 1970s, is a published historian and contributing editor to The New Republic. He spoke to NPR during Israel's recent Gaza campaign in his capacity as a reservist serving as a spokesman for the Israeli military.

 

Hearing the appointment was a done deal, a plugged-in Washington Middle East hand said Netanyahu's choice for the key post of a historian with strong ties to the neoconservatives who never previously served in any diplomatic function was slightly puzzling. "Not sure Netanyahu understands the changes in D.C.," he said.

 

Other recent Israeli government appointments have not done much to ease awkward relations between the new Obama and Netanyahu administrations. As previously reported, Netanyahu's long time advisor and choice to head his national security cabinet, Uzi Arad, has written several letters to try to resolve U.S. counterintelligence concerns that prevented him from receiving a U.S. visa two years ago. JTA recently reported that Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman has chosen another Israeli official connected to the AIPAC case, Naor Gilon, to serve as his chief of staff.

 

(Meantime, the Washington Post reports Tuesday that prosecutors are considering dropping charges against two former AIPAC lobbyists.)

 

Netanyahu was not first in line among Middle Eastern leaders to get face time with Obama at the White House. That went to Jordan's King Abdullah II, who held meetings with Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today.

 

But the White House said Netanyahu will get a meeting in the next few weeks. Obama will invite Middle Eastern leaders, including Netanyahu, Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas for separate meetings in the coming weeks, White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Tuesday. The series of meetings, Gibbs said, is part of the Obama administration's effort to "achieve a comprehensive peace in the Middle East."