Soccer Dad

Oren appointed ambassador

Michael Oren:

Last night, while packing my kitbag, I listened as foreign correspondents spoke of Israel's plan to "divide and conquer" the West Bank and Gaza Arabs, that Israel had "starved" and "strangled" Gazans and forced them to lash out with missiles, and that Gaza is "the world's most densely populated area." My job will be to remind journalists that Hamas, not Israel, conquered Gaza and cut it off from the West Bank; that Israel's closures of Gaza's borders were a response to, not the catalyst of, rocket strikes and that Gazans never remotely resembled the real victims of hunger in Darfur and Somalia; and that Tel Aviv is almost twice as densely-populated as Gaza.

Here's a complete listing of his articles for the New Republic going back to 2001. (I believe he's written others in that time frame; maybe they only included solo articles and those co-written with Yossi Klein Halevi. There's a more complete list at Oren's website. Unfortunately the URL for a Michael Totten interview of Oren seems to have changed, so that is apparently no longer available.

Michael Oren has officially been appointed Israel's ambassador to the United States.

Israel Matzav is concerned about Oren's political leanings. Elder of Ziyon reviewed Oren's latest book.

Here's the AP and here's Martin Peretz on the appointment.

What Israel needs is someone who can effectively communicate Israel's position to the United States. Presumably Oren has some sense of what the government's leanings are, and he's comfortable with them. And the one time I got to see him he was extremely effective, taking control in a room that was filled with a hostile crowd.

Update by Meryl: And here's a story about Oren's service in the IDF by Dan Gordon that tells you a lot about the man, not his politics. /update

Crossposted on Yourish.