Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Breaking News

Michael Oren’s Party Leader Disowns Remarks in Book

The head of Israel’s Kulanu party has apologized to the Obama administration for party member Michael Oren’s public criticism of the U.S. president.

In a letter to U.S. Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro, Moshe Kahlon wrote, “I distance myself from the statements made by Michael Oren. President Obama has greatly contributed to Israel’s security,” Israel’s Channel 2 reported Wednesday.

The letter reportedly noted that Oren’s comments, made in a Wall Street Journal Op-Ed published Monday, were “only his personal opinion” and did not represent the Kulanu party.

In his Op-Ed, Oren, the American-born former Israeli ambassador to Washington, accused Obama of abandoning the two core principles that undergird the U.S.-Israel relationship: no public disagreements and no surprises.

The piece coincided with the launch of Oren’s new book, “Ally: My Journey Across the American-Israeli Divide.”

“With the Middle East unraveling and dependable allies a rarity, the U.S. and Israel must restore the ‘no daylight’ and ‘no surprises’ principles,” Oren wrote in the Op-Ed. “Israel has no alternative to America as a source of security aid, diplomatic backing and overwhelming popular support. The U.S. has no substitute for the state that, though small, remains democratic, militarily and technologically robust, strategically located and unreservedly pro-American.”

A centrist-right party founded last year, Kulanu is part of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.