Israel: U.S. Did Not ‘Summon’ Oren
The U.S. State Department did not summon Israel’s ambassador for a special meeting on building in Jerusalem, Israeli officials said.
The officials told JTA that Michael Oren’s meeting last week was a routine “getting to know you” meeting for the new ambassador. They also said that the U.S. officials did raise U.S. objections to a project now under way in eastern Jerusalem.
News reports have described Oren as having been “summoned” to the meeting to discuss the building in the Palestinian Sheik Jarrah neighborhood.
On Monday, Oren formally presented his credentials to President Obama.
“Ambassador Oren thanked President Obama for his friendship and support for the State of Israel, and expressed optimism that the strong ties between Israel and the United States can be further strengthened,” an Israeli Embassy statement said.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
