NOVANEWS
By Brandon Martinez
Michael Oren, the former Israeli ambassador to the US, said this is a recent interview:
Yes not only the names you mention but the depth to which Jews, American Jews were involved in policymaking not just in this administration but even in the previous administration… was immense, and in my discussion of the relationship between American Jewry and the state of Israel, I talk about how the founding fathers of Zionism– and mothers of Zionism– did not anticipate the American Jewish success.
… They could not foresee a situation that I encountered regularly, which is, six Jews sitting in the White House, three Israelis and three American Jews, discussing the Palestinian state. It happens all the time. Very often the only non Jewish person in the room was the vice president or the president. The American Jewish story is a huge success story which doesn’t fit into some of our deepest Zionist impulses and ideology.
While Oren acknowledged the enormity of Jewish-Zionist influence in the US government, he later mildly excoriated American Jews for not being pro-Israel enough in their policy decisions, citing the “assimilated” character of many such Jews in the US administration. This is an audacious claim, seeing as many American Jews act as professional emissaries for Israel through organizations like AIPAC and the ADL. Apparently that’s not good enough for the hardline ‘we want it all’ crowd running Israel. Anything less than full, unabashed shilling for Israeli imperialism is seen as a betrayal by the Likudnik elite.
According to Oren, Israel is “predicated on the notion that there is a Jewish people, and that is irrespective of where you live, whether you’re living in Washington or living in Hadera in Israel, we belong to the same people, and we should have some affinity and a better sense of understanding of one another.”
In other words, the former Israeli diplomat is conceding that he expects Jews, no matter their nationality, to be more loyal to Israel than their host countries.
