Former Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Oren is releasing a book based on his four-year stint. Due out on June 23, Ally: My Journey Across the American-Israeli Divide promises to be a landmark text for two reasons. Firstly because all the major players are still in office. Secondly, because the decidedly centrist (if not liberal at times) politician reportedly doesn’t hold back when it comes to detailing Barack Obama’s disdain for the Jewish state. Writing for the New York Post, John Podhoretz notes:
On major matters, the administration seemed to hold Israel accountable for problems it had nothing to do with.
Example: The Palestinian Authority made moves toward seeking a declaration of statehood at the United Nations in 2011, which would’ve triggered a law shutting down their US mission and suspending all aid to the PA and to UN agencies that recognized Palestine.
In response, Deputy Secretary of State Tom Nides called Oren into his fancy Foggy Bottom office and screamed at him: “You don’t want the f - - - ing UN to collapse because of your f - - - ing conflict with the Palestinians, and you don’t want the f - - - ing Palestinian Authority to fall apart either.”
To which Oren replied that Israel didn’t want the United Nations to collapse, “but there are plenty of Tea Party types who would, and no shortage of Congress members who are wondering why they have to keep paying Palestinians who spit in the president’s eye.” He reports that Nides “slumped into his Louis XVth chair.”
Given that academia is traditionally 20 years behind the times, Oren’s account should provide readers (Jewish Americans, especially) with a more timely and accurate viewpoint on the tenuous relations between Israel and the American presidency just in time for 2016.
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