Israel’s Number One Diplomat

Some important points about Michael Oren's appointment are not being discussed.

Israel's Number One Diplomat

Your View, May 4th 2009, 8:22 am

This is a guest-post from Alex Stein of falsedichotomies.com

The appointment of Michael Oren as the new Israeli ambassador to the United States marks an interesting development in Israeli diplomatic history. Oren is one of the leading lights at the conservative Shalem Center, from where he has authored numerous best-selling histories, including Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East, and Power, Faith, and Fantasy: The United States in the Middle East. A popular historian with real clout, he has suddenly been thrust into life as Israel's number one diplomat.

His views will now be analysed like never before. The announcement of his candidacy was greeted with a furor surrounding an article he had written during the US election. In this piece, he seemed to suggest that it would be better for Israeli interests if McCain won. Indeed, some suggested that a victorious McCain might even have appointed Oren as an advisor.

When it became clear that Oren was the front-runner for the position, his comments at a recent speech at Georgetown University, where he is currently a visiting professor, became widely reported. "The only alternative for Israel to save itself as a Jewish state is by unilaterally withdrawing from the West Bank and evacuating most of the settlements," he said, an unfashionable but sensible assertion of Sharonist principle, albeit without the necessary details.

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