Obama has deliberately damaged U.S.-Israel relations - says previous Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren

The political storm surrounding Kulanu MK Michael Oren continues to simmer, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declining to comment on Oren’s controversial comments.

Oren, a former ambassador to the U.S. who was elected to the Knesset in the March election, sparked a firestorm on Tuesday by saying that U.S. President Barack Obama has deliberately damaged U.S.-Israel relations. U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro spoke with senior Israeli officials and has asked them to dissociate themselves from Oren’s claims.

Sources close to the prime minister said Netanyahu was refusing to issue an official statement on the matter because Oren is not a member of the cabinet. The Prime Minister’s Office also chose not to address the issue.

The storm broke out after Oren, who served as Israel ambassador to the U.S. from 2009-2013, wrote a memoir about his time in Washington titled “Ally: My Journey Across the American-Israeli Divide,” slated to be published in the U.S. next week.

In an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal titled “How Obama Abandoned Israel” Oren accused Obama of violating the “two core principles of Israel’s alliance with America,” which, according to Oren, are “no daylight” and “no surprises.”

Full original article HERE at https://warsclerotic.wordpress.com/2015/06/21/washington-up-in-arms-over-michael-orens-obama-remarks/