Defending Trump, Former Israeli Ambassador to U.S. Notes Nobody Blamed Obama for the Widespread Leftist Anti-Semitism

Raphael Ahren : Feb 23, 2017
Times of Israel

"During my time in Washington [as Israeli ambassador], I never encountered right-wing anti-Semitism, but I experienced a lot of anti-Semitism, mainly on campuses. Ask Jewish students in America if they fear anti-Semitism. They do—not from the right, but from the left." -Michael Oren

(Israel)—[Times of Israel] Those who charge US President Donald Trump with fueling right-wing anti-Semitism should recall that no one had accused his predecessor, Barack Obama, of spurring anti-Semitism from the left, Deputy Minister for Public Diplomacy MK Michael Oren said Thursday. (Photo: Miriam Alster/FLASH90/via Times of Israel)

Oren, a former Israeli ambassador to Washington, also defended Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's refusal to speak out about the White House's statement for International Holocaust Memorial Day, which failed to mention the Jewish people, saying the prime minister was engaging in "responsible" policymaking.

"Too much emphasis is put on what people say, not on what people do. The question is not what's being said, but what's being done," Oren told The Times of Israel. "Yes, there is an uptick in anti-Semitism, but the conversation about it is not going in the right direction."

In his meetings with bipartisan congressional delegations from the US, Oren said, he is often...

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