Michael Oren Quotations

Of course terror has a role in the disengagement. It convinced us that Gaza was not worth holding onto and awakened us to the demographic danger. It took two intifadas for a majority of Israelis to decide that Gaza is not worth it.

If this thing goes off with fairly few hitches, it means it could go smoothly in the West Bank, as well. It will create a precedent that Israel, with very little resistance, removed settlers and redrew its borders.

I believe the Palestinians have never indicated a willingness to meet our minimum requirements, which are recognition of Israel's permanence and legitimacy as a Jewish state and end of claims and end of conflict.

I believe that the only alternative Israel has to save itself as a Jewish state - and let's be frank about that: the Jewish state is predicated on having a Jewish majority - the only way we can do that is by unilaterally withdrawing our border and withdrawing our settlements in the West Bank.

I think it is essential for Israel's survival as a Jewish and democratic state that we end the status quo. The preferred way to end the status quo would be on the basis of a two-state solution. We don't want the Palestinians to be citizens of Israel, nor do we want them to be subjects.

It convinced us that Gaza was not worth holding on to and awakened us to the demographic danger. It took two intifadas for a majority of Israelis to decide that Gaza is not worth it.

I think the Obama administration, whether it's in his first term or second term, is totally committed to the search for peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and we greatly appreciate the president's effort, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the first administration, now Secretary of State John Kerry.

People often ask whether Obama passes the 'kishka test:' whether he likes Israel special, not in the same way he likes Taiwan or South Korea? Does he? I think the kishka test was decided when he visited Israel. I think the reaction there was emotional and genuine.

The American Jewish left gets a lot of press time. But the American Jewish right does not. And in many ways, the American Jewish right is every bit as well-organized and perhaps better funded than the American Jewish left. And they also come out with criticism.

We in Israel certainly have a great interest in seeing peace, stability, and security restored to Egypt. We want nothing more than peace for the Egyptian people. We're not going to get involved in how Egypt, how the Egyptians should run themselves. That's an internal Egyptian affair.

Benjamin Netanyahu has made the official policy of the Israeli government the two-state solution, at a time when he had opposition from many quarters. That is his official position. He remains publicly committed to it, but not just publicly; also in diplomacy, totally committed to moving swiftly toward that solution.

Every single attempt has never achieved national dominance of the political system and the reason because they don't have the deep roots in the Israeli ideological system,

Fantasy is the tendency of Americans, going back to colonial times, to look at the Middle East as a type of fractured mirror of the United States - a type of mirror that could look a lot more like the United States, if, say, a Middle Eastern George Washington would emerge.

America is a unique place. The value part of American foreign policy is something I think is very laudable, but it is uniquely American. And it is part of what makes America special.

They don't have the organization behind them. They don't have the money behind them. And they're really based on one issue and one or two personalities and that's not enough to hold an Israeli party together.

The importance of (the boycott) is more political and diplomatic than it is financial today.