Michael Oren, Israeli Ambassador to the United States, spent an evening informing students about current relations between the U.S. and Israel.
The presentation, organized by Students for Israel on campus Monday evening, also focused on the history of the relationship between the two nations and the importance of that connection.
Zach Silverman, a 20-year-old junior International Affairs major specializing in the Middle East, is the co-president of Students for Israel. He said despite his broad knowledge of the US and Israel, the ambassador left him with new information.
“I had no idea that a possible symbol of the U.S., instead of the bald eagle for the past 200 years, would have been Moses leading the Jewish people out of Egypt,” Silverman said.
Oren said Israel is the most pro-American country in the Middle East. They have a replica of the Liberty Bell, as well as memorials honoring both John F. Kennedy and Sept. 11.
With all the uncertainties in the Middle East, Oren said Israel is the one state that will remain a stable ally of the U.S. in the coming years. Oren also said Israel has upheld a consistently democratic government since it became a state in 1948, and has an army that is both loyal and supportive of its government.
“Israel is not just an ally, it is the ultimate ally [to the U.S.] that there can be no replacement for,” Oren said.
Oren considers the strategic relationship to be the most multifaceted one the U.S. has ever had with a foreign country in the post World War II era.
“One of my favorite quotes is from the former head of U.S. Air Force Intelligence that said, ‘Israel intelligence is worth five CIAs,’” Oren said.
Oren said the quotation refers to Israel’s geographic location and its role as a crossroads among three continents. He also noted that Israel’s expert intelligence is shared intimately with the U.S.
Lera Yavich, a 22-year-old senior psychology major, said Oren was a fair and unbiased speaker. She said he was very calm and straightforward during the question portion. Especially when an audience member questioned the idea of Israel as a Jewish state: asking if it meant that the Jewish people had superiority in Israel as an ethnic group, or if they managed their population to keep Jewish people in the majority.
Oren responded to these questions by calling Israel the “nation state of the Jewish people.” He brought up the “Law of Return,” which allows anyone who identifies as Jewish to return to Israel and gain citizenship.
Oren called the Jewish people’s right to return Israel’s version of Affirmative Action.
“We are correcting a historic wrong of 2,000 years of statelessness,” he said. “That 2,000 years of statelessness cost us the lives of millions of Jews, and it’s not going to go on anymore. And that’s why the state was created.”
The audience met the statement with a round of applause.
Yavich said she was happy that a student group could bring someone like Oren to campus.
“I just think it’s really great that Students for Israel was able to put this on and get such a high profile person to come and speak to everyone,” Yavich said. “It wasn’t just for Jews, it was for anyone that wanted to come.”
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Donald Tartaglione at Donald.tartaglione@colorado.edu
