clock is ticking."Asked about the current US policy on Iran, Oren said he wouldn't "second-guess" President Barack Obama's next move, but expressed satisfaction that Obama's last statement was "very clear, very adamant" on the Iranian election, in his scathing criticism of the regime's crackdown against the civilian Iranian population following the contested election.
The ambassador pointed out there was a silver lining to recent events in Iran, in that "the events have unmasked to the world, to anybody who ever doubted, the true nature of this regime," which, he said, "would have no compunction about killing its own people, Jews, or Sunni Arabs alike."
Oren said he was certain Obama had "the best interests of the US and the interest of Israel at heart" when confronting the Iranian nuclear program but added that Israel was concerned mainly about the "timing and timeline" of such action.
Asked why, in his mind, it was so important for Jews to live in their own state, when interviewer Jeffrey Goldberg, himself and American Jew, mused that US Jews seem to enjoy a safer existence in America, Oren said that for the first time in 2,000 years, "Jews take responsibility" for both their successes and their failures. The establishment of the State of Israel, he said, transformed Jews "from passive actors in their history to active actors in their history."
He proudly remarked that statistically, Israel enjoys the second highest longevity rate in the world, bettered only by Japan, and urged US Jews: "Come to Israel and live long."
Oren jokingly added "you may have a Kassam rocket being launched once in a while but you'll be watching them for a long time."
Oren also tackled the current hot potato in US-Israel relations, Jewish settlements in the West Bank.
"I never said settlements are not an issue… but they're not the issue." He said Palestinian education was undermining any efforts Israel could make to bridge gaps between the sides. "Palestinians have to begin to end hatred, on their TV and in their textbooks," otherwise Jews and Palestinian Muslims will never be able to reach a middle ground.
Oren said Israel and the US were "working earnestly, ardently" to find a solution palatable to both sides regarding the settlements.