Michael Oren Archives - JNS.org

Follow us

© 2023 JNS, All Rights Reserved Concept, design & development by RGB Media. Powered by Salamandra

Michael Oren

Israelis watch a live screening of a court hearing on petitions against the government's amendment to Basic Law: The Judiciary, at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Sept. 12, 2023. Photo by Miriam Alster/Flash90.

Israel at a crossroads

In one direction lie chaos and conflict, and in the other, possible reconciliation and peace.

September 14, 2023

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets with then-U.S. Vice President Joe Biden at the Prime Minister's Office in Jerusalem on March 9, 2016. Credit: Amos Ben Gershom/GPO.

Biden and Netanyahu need a deal

Connect all the dots and you will get an Israel-Saudi peace ceremony on the White House lawn, But getting there won't be easy.

July 31, 2023

Israeli President Isaac Herzog and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris discuss a new climate initiative at the White House complex on July 19, 2023. Source: YouTube.

Herzog can put Netanyahu-Biden relations back on track

As he meets US officials, Israel's president must ask himself: Is there anything the prime minister would be willing to accept in exchange for giving up, even partially, on the judicial reform?

July 20, 2023

Israeli reserve soldiers and activists protest against the Israeli government's planned judicial reform in the city of Bnei Brak on March 16, 2023. Photo by Flash90.

A political overdraft that is endangering Israel

Emptying our political bank account while the situation in Judea and Samaria is escalating and Iran races towards a nuclear weapon places Israel in a dangerous situation.

March 26, 2023

Then-Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Oct. 22, 2021. Photo by Kobi Gideon/GPO.

Israel is navigating perilous diplomatic terrain in Ukraine

There are significant security and ethical pitfalls on this path.

February 27, 2022

Israeli army forces stationed near the border between Israel and Lebanon in the Golan Heights on July 27, 2020. Photo by David Cohen/Flash90.

Restore Israeli deterrence now

Israel must act immediately to bolster its defense and restore deterrence because a country that hesitates to defend itself only invites greater aggression.

November 18, 2020

U.S. President Donald Trump with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bahrain Abdullatif bin Rashid Al Zayani, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the Minister of Foreign Affairs for the United Arab Emirates Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan on the way to the signing of the Abraham Accords, Sept. 15, 2020. Credit: Tia Dufour/White House.

An achievement that will be taught in diplomacy books

Credit is due to Benjamin Netanyahu and his team, who took a historic opportunity created by the Trump administration and the willingness of the Gulf states to move from covert to overt relations.

September 16, 2020

A picture taken from the Israeli side depicts smoke rising near the Israeli-Syrian border in the Golan Heights during fights between the rebels and the Syrian army, June 25, 2017. Photo by Basel Awidat/Flash90.

A one-time opportunity for Israel in the Golan

The goal is to have more than 100,000 Israelis move ‎to the area over the next decade, thereby increasing ‎the Israeli population there by five times, and ‎establish the necessary industrial and ‎transportation infrastructure.‎

December 24, 2018

U.S. President Donald Trump with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at United Nations headquarters in New York City on Sept. 26, 2018. Photo by Avi Ohayon/GPO.

Thank you, Mr. President

No one disputes that our diplomatic situation is better now than it was in 2016, and much of that is due to the policies of the current U.S. administration.

December 6, 2018