Spencer Ackerman’s column, guest-authored by Jolene Crixell, reporting on an appearance at UC San Diego two days ago by his holiness Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren:
He told us about how when he was asked to be ambassador everyone kept telling him what a difficult job he’d face. Even Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman — whom he described as “not a squeamish guy” — warned him that he was going to have a hard time. The reason was that the American people had just elected Barack Hussein Obama [Ed. [Ackerman] Note: I asked Jolene whether Oren really did use Obama’s middle name here, and she said he did indeed. What a disgraceful dog-whistle] and that there were three potential issues of conflict between the Netanyahu government and the American president.
The first was the two-state solution, which the Obama administration was deeply attached to, and wanted to move quickly toward. Oren said that Netanyahu had reservations about it due to previous problems with unilateral withdrawal in Gaza and that he did not believe the Palestinians would recognize Israel. The second problem is the settlements. Oren presented the argument that since Israel is a democracy, it would somehow be wrong for the government to tell people where they could live. The third, and biggest potential point of conflict was over Iran. He said that while Obama had made a diplomatic overture to Iran, Israel was afraid of an open ended negotiation. [Ed. Note: Not that that’s a live issue, but whatever, Mr. Ambassador…]
