Michael Oren
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Former Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Former MK and Deputy Minister in PMO for Diplomacy לשעבר שגריר ישראל בארה״ב • לשעבר חבר כנסת וסגן שר במשרד ראש הממשלה
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Articles by Michael Oren
Mathematics > Representation Theory
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Flydubai Flight FZ1073 and the Indomitability of the Jews
Occurring just over a week before the anniversary of the Oct. 7horrors, the saving of flydubai Flight 1073 from fiery destruction and 174 passengers, most of them Israelis, from certain death, stands as a metaphor for the past three years of war. Starting at 6:29 on the morning of Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists breached the Gaza fence at dozens of locations and invaded Israeli border communities. More than 1,200 Israelis and foreign workers were slaughtered and 251 taken hostage.
Flydubai Flight FZ1073 and the indomitability of the Jews
Occurring just over a week before the anniversary of the October 7 horrors, the saving of flydubai Flight 1073 from fiery destruction and 174 passengers, most of them Israelis, from certain death, stands as a metaphor for the past three years of war. Starting at 6:29 on the morning of October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists breached the Gaza fence at dozens of locations and invaded Israeli border communities. More than 1,200 Israelis and foreign workers were slaughtered and 251 taken hostage.
The Enduring Tragedy of 9/11
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this article contained a typographical error that reversed the meaning of a key sentence. The article has been corrected and republished below. The US National September 11 Memorial (Wikimedia Commons) Everyone in my parents’ generation remembers what they were doing when they heard about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941, and everyone in my generation remembers what they were doing on 9/11.
Sudamérica está dando un giro, y eso es bueno para la comunidad judía
Mientras crece la sensación de falta de futuro entre la comunidad judía europea, canadiense y australiana, Sudamérica experimenta una profunda transformación política, liderada por nuevos presidentes que apoyan a Israel y que reemplazan a regímenes hostiles. Jerusalem debe tener esto en cuenta. En mi papel como director del Grupo de Defensa de Israel, que fundé el para ayudar a defender a Israel en el ámbito diplomático y mediático, me he reunido con líderes judíos de todo el mundo.
Clarity with Michael Oren
On the breathtaking roof of Jaffa’s historic Drisco Hotel—founded by two brothers from Maine in 1867— Einat Wilf and I engaged in a riveting conversation about the pressing issues confronting Israel. Haredi military service, US-Israel relations, war and peace, and sovereignty—we covered it all. The event was cohosted by the Tel Aviv International Salon and the Isra…
Will Hamas Really Give Up Its Guns?
Donald Trump has declared a historic breakthrough in Gaza. But lasting peace is further away than it appears. As we learned from the recent U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding (MOU), such documents can rapidly become memoranda of misunderstanding in the Middle East. That is likely to be the case with the U.S.-brokered agreement on Hamas’s disarmament and Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza.
Will Hamas Really Give Up Its Guns?
Will Hamas Really Give Up Its Guns? Hamas fighters secure an area before handing over an Israeli-American hostage to a Red Cross team in Gaza City on February 1, 2025. (Photo by Omar Al-Qattaa / AFP via Getty Images) Donald Trump has declared a historic breakthrough in Gaza. But lasting peace is further away than it appears. As we learned from the recent U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding (MOU), such documents can rapidly become memoranda of misunderstanding in the Middle East.
Lindsey Graham: The Man We Called When It Mattered Most
Even in Israel’s darkest hours, Lindsey Graham remained one of our nation’s greatest friends. Lindsey Graham and Michael Oren, 2024. Funeral services for Lindsey Graham took place on Tuesday, July 28 in Washington, D.C. and Wednesday in his home state of South Carolina. I share below an article I wrote following his passing, originally published in Hebrew in Israel Hayom. I’ll never forget the day, Nov.
Opinion: Pros and Cons of American Bases in Israel
Israeli Air Force F-15s escort an American B-52 bomber through Israeli skies on Feb. 14, 2022. (Photo credit: IDF Spokesperson’s Unit via JNS) By Michael B. Oren The American media was filled with recent reports of discussions at the Pentagon about whether to move U.S. bases out of the rocket range of Iran. At stake was the future of major navy and air force installations in Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar — countries lacking effective anti-missile defense systems.
Today, As in the Past, the Maccabiah Is About Jewish People and Unity
Maccabiah 2026 closing ceremony July 13, 2026, Tel Aviv (Maccabiah/Facebook) Last night marked the closing ceremony for the 2026 Maccabiah Games. On July 1, 10,000 athletes arrived in Israel from around the world to take part in the 22nd Games, a historic Jewish sporting tradition dating back to 1932. For the opening Shabbat dinner, I was invited to speak to a VIP group from Maccabi USA.
Pros and cons of American bases in Israel
Michael B. Oren is an American-Israeli diplomat, writer and politician who served as Israel’s ambassador to the United States from 2009 to 2013. (JNS) The American media was filled with recent reports of discussions at the Pentagon about whether to move U.S. bases out of the rocket range of Iran. At stake was the future of major navy and air force installations in Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar-countries lacking effective anti-missile defense systems.
Pros and cons of American bases in Israel
(July 10, 2026 / Clarity) The American media was filled with recent reports of discussions at the Pentagon about whether to move U.S. bases out of the rocket range of Iran. At stake was the future of major navy and air force installations in Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar—countries lacking effective anti-missile defense systems. In addition, during the recent war with Iran, Saudi Arabia refused to allow American warplanes to use its airspace.
Pros and cons of American bases in Israel
The American media was filled with recent reports of discussions at the Pentagon about whether to move U.S. bases out of the rocket range of Iran. At stake was the future of major navy and air force installations in Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar—countries lacking effective anti-missile defense systems. In addition, during the recent war with Iran, Saudi Arabia refused to allow American warplanes to use its airspace.
Pros and cons of American bases in Israel
The American media was filled with recent reports of discussions at the Pentagon about whether to move U.S. bases out of the rocket range of Iran. At stake was the future of major navy and air force installations in Kuwait, Bahrain, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Qatar—countries lacking effective anti-missile defense systems. In addition, during the recent war with Iran, Saudi Arabia refused to allow American warplanes to use its airspace.
The Israeli Response to Vance
U.S. Vice President JD Vance (White House) I was recently asked in an interview with i24 News whether I thought Vice President JD Vance was right in saying that, apart from the United States, Israel has no friends in the world. I emphatically answered “no,” and listed the many friends Israel has in South America, Africa, the Arab Gulf, and, most importantly, India.
The Thousand Days and Counting
Translation: “Seek peace and pursue it” from Psalms. Painted on a public bomb shelter in Israel’s North (Aviva Schreiber) The 1967 war, of course, took six days, and the 1956 Sinai Campaign, eight. The Yom Kippur War lasted three weeks, and in 1982, Operation Peace for Galilee—the First Lebanon War—raged for three months. The Second Lebanon War ground on for fifty-four days.
Martin Indyk
MARTIN INDYK was a Distinguished Fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations and Executive Vice President of the Brookings Institution. He served as U.S. Ambassador to Israel from 1995 to 1997 and again from 2000 to 2001. He also served on the U.S. National Security Council and as Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs during the Clinton administration, among other senior diplomatic and national security positions.
Marc Lynch
MARC LYNCH is Professor of Political Science and International Affairs at George Washington University, where he is the director of the Project on Middle East Political Science and Co-Director of the Program on African Social Research. He is the author of The New Arab Wars: Uprisings and Anarchy in the Middle East and a co-editor of The One State Reality: What Is Israel/Palestine?
Our Founders fought a Middle East war centuries ago. We could learn a lot from them
Jefferson and Adams clashed over paying tribute or fighting, a dilemma now mirrored in U.S.-Iran policy Writing to his trusted ally, the Marquis de Lafayette, after the War of Independence, George Washington believed it "the highest disgrace" that Americans were "tributary to such banditti who might for half the sum that is paid them be exterminated from the Earth." Those "banditti" were the Barbary pirates of North Africa who preyed on American merchant ships in the Mediterranean, enslaving...
How Israel Must Respond to the U.S.-Iran Deal
Editors’ Pick June 18, 2026 The stage is set for confrontation.
Those Who Will Fight for What They Have, and Those Who Won’t
Editors’ Pick June 16, 2026 Reflections from the Jewish graves in the Meuse-Argonne. If Washington really agreed to the concessions to Tehran that have been reported in the press, then what has transpired is not a failure of American arms or even of American strategy, but of American resolve.
Israel has no choice but to risk open conflict with Trump
This situation is hardly new. Ever since U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower demanded that Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion halt the Israel Defense Forces’ campaign against Egypt in Sinai in 1956, and later withdraw from Gaza, the United States has consistently forced Israel to stop fighting and agree to a ceasefire. That was true in the 1967 Six-Day War, which Israel wanted to continue for an eighth day; in the 1973 Yom Kippur War; in both Lebanon wars; and in all our operations in Gaza.
Clarity with Michael Oren
President Trump and Steve Witkoff, U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East (White House) Last night, in celebration of President Trump’s 80th birthday, tens of thousands of spectators gathered on the South Lawn of the White House to watch live UFC fights. The combination of spectacle and violence, many observers agreed, was nothing short of surreal.
Israel has no choice but to risk open conflict with Trump
In my media interviews, I am often asked: “Has Israel become the 51st state of the US?” With half a smile, I answer: “If only. American states have far more freedom and room to maneuver than Israel does.” This situation is hardly new. Ever since U.S. President Dwight D.
Israel Has No Choice Left But to Stand Up
Some of the themes below may be familiar to Clarity readers. They are worth reiterating in the current context. Trump and Netanyahu speaking at the White House on September 29, 2025 (White House) One of the most frequently asked questions I’ve recently been asked in Israeli media interviews is “Do you think Israel has become the fifty-first state?” Half-jokingly I answer, “If only.
Israel has no choice but to risk open conflict with Trump Original
(Jun. 10, 2026 / Israel Hayom) In my media interviews, I am often asked: “Has Israel become the 51st state of the US?” With half a smile, I answer: “If only. American states have far more freedom and room to maneuver than Israel does.” This situation is hardly new. Ever since U.S. President Dwight D.
Clarity with Michael Oren
An alarming number of Jewish soldiers who fell in the World Wars were mistakenly buried beneath Latin crosses. Operation Benjamin, an extraordinary initiative, identifies their graves and rededicates them with marble Stars of David. At a recent gathering of Operation Benjamin in Verdun, France, honoring Jews who fell fighting in both the U.S. and German armies, I spoke about what it means today to give one’s life for one’s country.
Trump may cut a deal with Iran and Israel must demand the weapons Obama refused to provide
There is a strong resemblance between Israel’s current position vis-à-vis Iran and the situation in 2015. As of this writing, it remains unclear whether President Donald Trump will authorize another round of fighting against Iran or instead forge an agreement with the Islamic Republic similar to the nuclear deal signed by U.S. President Barack Obama more than a decade ago.
Clarity with Michael Oren
The Children of Israel’s achievement at Sinai—and the goals of the earliest Zionist thinkers. Kibbutz Alumim, 2015 (Lehava Netivot via PikiWiki) Error If freedom is impossible without responsibility and Zionism is defined by responsibility, then, for the Jewish people, true freedom comes only with Zionism. Behind that syllogism lies a 3,000-year-old logic leading back to the foot of Mount Sinai, where the Children of Israel received the law. A mere fifty days before, they had been slaves in Egypt.
Clarity with Michael Oren
Pro-Palestine march in New York City, October 23, 2023 (Wikimedia Commons) Throughout the more than two-and-a-half years of this war, there have been many moments that Israel and the Jewish people stood at a hinge—if not a precipice—of history. Whether in the horrors of October 7 or the full-fledged US-Israeli alliance against Iran, I know of no modern precedents. Yet, in one crucial, fundamental, and fateful way, our reality has perhaps permanently changed.
Clarity with Michael Oren
Israel protesters and supporters in NYC on October 7, 2025 (Wikimedia Commons/Oleg Yunakov) Speaking at pro-Israel events around the world for nearly fifty years, I rarely receive a question I haven’t heard a hundred times. But at a recent conference of American Jewish donors, someone asked me a question that was utterly and terrifyingly unique.
Israel must rethink its dependence on Europe as ties erode, hostility rises across the continent
This week, on Holocaust Remembrance Day, a friend told me how her father, as a young Jew in Libya, was arrested by the Italians and, after the Nazis occupied Italy, marked for deportation to Bergen-Belsen. An hour later, during a television panel on the Holocaust, I learned that Italy’s right-wing prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, had frozen her country’s defense agreement with Israel.
Defending Israel in an Age of Madness
America’s national derangement poses almost insurmountable challenges to supporters of the Jewish state. For the past 50 years, in capacities both official and voluntary, before the American press, on campuses, and in a corpus of op-eds, I have spent most of my time defending the state of Israel. Though not always keen to justify its policies, I never lost faith in the justness of the Zionist project and the public’s openness to its case.
Clarity with Michael Oren
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during her trip to Israel October 21, 2023 (Italian Government) This week, on Yom Hashoa, a friend told me a story I had never heard—how her father as a young Jew in Libya during World War II was arrested by the Italians and later, after the Nazis occupied Italy, marked for transport to Bergen-Belsen.
What Does the Ceasefire Mean in Israel?
What Does the Ceasefire Mean in Israel? People watch security forces inspect damage caused by an Iranian missile in Ramat Gan, Israel, on April 6, 2026. (Erik Marmor via Getty Images) Israelis largely see the ceasefire deal as extinguishing their most tangible hope for lasting peace. For a great many Israelis, the hardest moment of the 40-day war with Iran—harder than the thousands of rockets and missiles fired at the country and the deaths of 42 of our citizens—came with the ceasefire.
Setback or turning point? Two paths ahead for Israel after Iran ceasefire
There are two ways to look at the missiles fired toward Israel before dawn, just hours after the United States and Iran agreed to a ceasefire. One points to a strategic disaster for Israel. The other holds the possibility of hope. The disaster scenario is clear. After committing to strike Iran’s strategic infrastructure and oil facilities and severely damage its capabilities, U.S. President Donald Trump stepped back and agreed to a two-week ceasefire.
Defending Israel in an Age of Madness
For the past 50 years, in capacities both official and voluntary, before the American press, on campuses and in a corpus of op-eds, I have spent most of my time defending the state of Israel. Though not always keen to justify its policies, I never lost faith in the justness of the Zionist project and the public’s openness to its case. Challenging even in the quietest of times, standing up for Israel became especially daunting after Oct.
Clarity with Michael Oren
Gaza Solidarity Encampment at Columbia University (Wikimedia Commons) For the past 50 years, in capacities both official and voluntary, before the American press, on campuses, and in a corpus of op-eds, I have spent most of my time defending the state of Israel. Though not always keen to justify its policies, I never lost faith in the justness of the Zionist project and the public’s openness to its case.
A New War Revives a Hateful Old Lie
What do New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, antisemitic podcaster Tucker Carlson, Progressive politician Bernie Sanders and the lunatic influencers Candace Owens and Nick Fuentes all have in common? Each has accused Israel, Netanyahu and the Jews of dragging the United States into yet another endless and unwinnable war in the Middle East. Not much nuance separates Friedman’s assertion that “Bibi is playing both President Trump and American Jews for fools.
Different realities, same war: Israel warns of danger as Trump claims victory
In the 1970 classic “Patton,” the famed World War II general visits the North African front, where a senior British commander assures him the Royal Air Force has complete air superiority. Seconds later, German planes attack the base.
How This War Ends
Critics think the war with Iran is like Afghanistan. It’s much more like the Cold War. Everybody knows how wars begin but nobody knows how they end. In the last couple of weeks, the question of how the United States and Israel can conclude their war with Iran has become the most frequently asked by far whenever I appear on TV. My answer is not always one that the anchors like to hear. Responding to this question requires, first, addressing President Donald Trump’s protean war goals.
Clarity with Michael Oren
In the classic 1970 film “Patton,” the famous World War II general visits the North African front where a senior British commander assures him that the Royal Air Force enjoys total air superiority. A second later, German planes attack the base.
Defending Israel in an Age of Madness
Michael Oren: Defending Israel in an Age of Madness Michael Oren examines the rise of conspiracy theories and the “national derangement” affecting discourse on Israel. (Allison Bailey/Middle East Images/AFP via Getty Images) America’s national derangement poses almost insurmountable challenges to supporters of the Jewish state.
Michael Oren, at The Blogs
Michael Oren, formerly Israel’s ambassador to the United States, Knesset Member and Deputy Minister for Diplomacy in the Prime Minister’s Office, is the founder of the Israel Advocacy Group and the author of the Substack, Clarity.
A new war revives a hateful old lie
What do New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, antisemitic podcaster Tucker Carlson, Progressive politician Bernie Sanders, and the lunatic influencers Candace Owens and Nick Fuentes all have in common? Each has accused Israel, Netanyahu, and the Jews of dragging the United States into yet another endless and unwinnable war in the Middle East. Not much nuance separates Friedman’s spin that “Bibi is playing both President Trump and American Jews for fools.
Clarity with Michael Oren
Israeli Air Force “Barak” F-16 fighter jet (IDF via X) There is a great expression in colloquial Hebrew that defies translation into other languages. It goes like this: “These are bedtime stories that we tell ourselves.” Though the image comes to mind of parents putting their children to bed and reading them an illustrated book, the expression has nothing to do with parenting and certainly not with children.
How This War Ends
To envision what victory looks like for the U.S. and its allies, one must first understand how the Iranian regime defines it for itself. (Hassan Ghaedi/Anadolu via Getty Images) Critics think the war with Iran is like Afghanistan. It’s much more like the Cold War. Everybody knows how wars begin but nobody knows how they end.
Clarity with Michael Oren
An F-35C Lightning II on the flight deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln in support of Operation Epic Fury, March 3, 2026 (U.S. Department of War) Last week, in Washington D.C., Brian McGinnis, a veteran of the U.S. Marines, burst into a hearing of the Senate Armed Services Committee and started screaming, “America does not want to send its sons and daughters to war for Israel!” He kept screaming the same words about Israel killing American soldiers even as Capitol Police and a senator wrestled...
MICHAEL OREN: Iran’s regime chose conflict - America is choosing security Original
Video NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles! The reason a state goes to war — its casus belli — is an essential component of its campaign. Wars with a strong casus belli, such as the Civil War and World War II, are usually more popular and consistently more victorious than those with weak justifications — Vietnam, for example, and Iraq.
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