1. Michael Bornstein Oren is an American-Israeli diplomat, writer, and politician.
44 Facts About Michael Oren
1. 2.
Michael Oren is a former Israeli ambassador to the United States, former member of the Knesset for the Kulanu party and a former Deputy Minister in the Prime Minister's Office.
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Michael Oren has taught at Harvard, Yale, and Georgetown universities in the United States and at Ben-Gurion and Hebrew universities in Israel.
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Michael Oren was a Distinguished Fellow at the Shalem Center in Jerusalem and a contributing editor to The New Republic.
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Michael Oren retired as ambassador to the United States in 2013, and was replaced by Ron Dermer.
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Michael Oren's father had served as an officer in the US Army who took part in the D-Day invasion of Normandy and in the Battle of the Bulge in 1944 and participated in the Korean War.
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Michael Oren grew up in West Orange, New Jersey, in a Conservative Jewish household.
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Michael Oren won two gold medals and one silver medal at the 1977 Maccabiah Games in rowing, a sport in which he remains active.
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In 1973, Michael Oren won first prize in the PBS National Young Filmmaker's contest for the film, Comrades in Arms, which he wrote and directed.
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In 1977 Michael Oren completed his BA degree in International Relations from Columbia College.
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Michael Oren continued his studies at Columbia, receiving an MA degree in International Affairs in 1978 from the School of International and Public Affairs, where he was an International Fellow and a DACOR Fellow.
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Michael Oren renounced his American citizenship in 2009 upon his nomination as ambassador to the United States, since Israeli law prohibits international representatives from holding dual nationality.
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Michael Oren was the Lady Davis Fellow of Hebrew University and a Moshe Dayan Fellow at Tel Aviv University.
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In 1979, Michael Oren began his military service as a lone soldier in the Israel Defense Forces.
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Michael Oren served as a paratrooper in the 1982 Lebanon War.
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Michael Oren's unit was caught in a Syrian ambush on the second day of the war.
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Michael Oren's commander was killed and nearly everyone was wounded.
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Michael Oren was called up for reserve duty for the 2005 Gaza disengagement, and participated in the evacuation of settlements.
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Michael Oren served as an officer in the IDF Spokesman's Office during the 2006 Lebanon War.
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In 1995, during the government of Yitzhak Rabin, Michael Oren served as an advisor in inter-religious affairs at the Ministry of Religious Affairs.
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In 2006, Michael Oren was a visiting professor at both Harvard University and Yale University, returning to Yale in 2007.
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President George W Bush appointed Oren to serve on the honorary delegation to accompany him to Jerusalem for the celebration of the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel in May 2008.
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Michael Oren was named ambassador-in-residence at the Atlantic Council in 2014.
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On May 3,2009, Michael Oren was appointed as ambassador of Israel to the United States by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, succeeding Sallai Meridor.
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Ambassador Michael Oren had to give up his United States citizenship in order to assume this post.
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Michael Oren strongly criticized the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict report, which determined Israel was guilty of possible war crimes.
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Michael Oren has initiated Israel outreach events for Irish Americans, Latino and LGBT leadership, and the Chinese embassy.
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On February 8,2010, Michael Oren spoke at the University of California, Irvine.
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Michael Oren has lectured at numerous universities across the United States.
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Michael Oren further made the claim that the Mavi Marmara was "a vessel too large to be neutralized by technical means".
31.
Michael Oren attempted to influence a critical 2012 CBS report by Bob Simon about Palestinian Christians in Israel, with some calling his interference an attempt to silence the American media.
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Michael Oren responded that at no point had he tried to prevent the 60 Minutes report, rather that he offered suggestions for balancing the segment.
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Michael Oren has received four honorary doctorates and has delivered commencement speeches at Brandeis, Monmouth University, and Yeshiva University.
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Michael Oren was awarded the Scholar-Statesman Award from the Washington Institute for Near East Policy and the Dr Martin Luther King Jr.
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Michael Oren has written many articles commenting on current political issues.
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Michael Oren appeared on Charlie Rose, The Daily Show, and the Today Show.
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Michael Oren served as the Middle East analyst for CNN and CBS.
38.
On June 15,2015, Michael Oren gave a speech at the Leonardo Hotel in Jerusalem, in which he said that the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement poses a "strategic threat" to Israel, which needs to fight it "like a war, which it is".
39.
Also during June 2015, an op-ed piece by Michael Oren published in The Wall Street Journal claimed that Barack Obama had deliberately sabotaged US-Israeli relations, resulting in Kulanu leader Moshe Kahlon distancing himself and the party from Michael Oren's stated views.
40.
Shortly afterwards another article by Michael Oren was published by Foreign Policy, which argued that Obama's outreach to the Muslim world was partly rooted in "abandonment" by his father and stepfather.
41.
Michael Oren's Six Days of War is a historical account of the events of the Six-Day War between Israel and its Arab neighbors.
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Michael Oren was given the fourth spot on the list of the new Kulanu party before Israel's 2015 elections, adding foreign policy credentials to a party that campaigned almost exclusively on economic issues.
43.
Michael Oren decided to forgo running in the elections for Israel's 21st Knesset.
44.
Michael Oren supported the creation of a new Israeli national holiday, Yom HaAliyah to be celebrated annually on the tenth of the Hebrew month of Nisan.